In their new article "More Afraid of the Virus than of Bad Weather? Exploring the link between Weather Conditions and Cycling Volume in German Cities Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic", Ansgar Hudde and Jan Wessel examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the relationship between weather and cycling. Based on data from 69 automated bicycle counting stations in Germany, the authors show that the weather sensitivity of cyclists in transit-oriented cities has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. One reason for this could be that public transport users have switched to cycling due to the increased risk of infection on public transport and that these new cyclists are significantly more sensitive to the weather than long-time cyclists. In more bicycle-oriented (student) cities, on the other hand, the weather sensitivity of cyclists has not changed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This article is published in the journal Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour (link to article).