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Horton (2007a, p. 7) highlighted ‘the bicycle and the act of riding a bicycle unavoidably convey status’. This perceived status might act as barrier towards cycling regarding belonging to certain social class (Horton et al., 2007b, Aldred, 2013a, Aldred and Jungnickel, 2014), stigma that is also attached to public transport users (Stokes and Hallett, 1992). However, little research has been conducted about whether cycling might be associated with low income groups. Aldred (2013b) suggested that a negative connotation of cycling is the

attachment to low income groups, which suggest the idea that people riding bicycle are those who cannot afford a car.

To date there is an important body of literature focusing on the link social class and the practice of sports (Bourdieu, 1978, Wilson, 2002). Particularly about cycling as a healthy option and its

association to some groups of people more than others, Steinbach et al.,(2011) carried out a study in UK. The authors aimed to explore the symbolic meanings of cycling across different urban, gendered, ethnic and class identities. The authors, argued that cycling in London being uncommon, provides the opportunity to cycle only a certain group of people (“bourgeois”) to use the bicycle without being linked to a lower income traveller. The author suggested that

changing the current cycling cultural association of cycling as a healthy choice, cycling levels could be improved.

Heinen et al. (2010) carried out a literature review to explore the factors influencing commuting cycling in order to identify the policies that help to promote bicycle use. It is of particular importance for our research, the findings from the socio-economic variables (particularly income and its relationship with cycling behaviour) and the

psychological factors. About socioeconomic factors, the authors concluded that there is a relationship between these factors and cycling levels but the relationship is not clear in terms of direction and causality. The authors stated that the link between income and

cycling levels it is imprecise. For instance, in the review, some

evidence supports that the higher the income is, the more that people use the bicycle, but other evidence showed opposite results. Also, evidence was found about the negative effect on cycling levels from car ownership, and opposite to that, the author also found that bike ownership increases probability of cycling more.

Goetzke and Rave (2011) carried out a study in Germany to investigate the factors influencing bicycle use with a sample of households trips records. The authors concluded that traveling by bicycle is not related with household income there, however, it was found out that in the case of recreational trips people with lower income more generally choose to use their bikes. In Mexico City, Lopez (2013) carried out a discussion about the impact of the public

bike-sharing system in several areas of Mexico City in relation with the local environment and the lifestyles of the users. The analysis was carried out based on the results of a survey with a sample of only bike share system users and the results from a different survey with a sample of cyclists but no users of the share system. The author, also access to data from meetings between the Local

Government and the residents from the neighbourhood where more stations from the bike share system were planned to be installed. Lopez (2013) found that low income households that still cannot afford a vehicle use bikes as a daily based mode of transport. The perceived socio-economic status attached to bicycle users may differ from the type of cyclists. For instance, the image reflected by a cyclist in the Tour of France compared with a cyclists messenger or a student riding a bike will not be perceived in the same way. This shows how not all cyclists are perceived in the same and how some cyclists can be more marginal than others (Lugo, 2012). In this respect Lugo also stated that the image of cycling differ across contexts and can vary according to social forces and cultural practices and ‘stigma’ may become attached to particular types of cyclists and associated with socio-economic conditions (Aldred, 2013b).

More recently, Singleton and Goddard (2016) carried out a study to understand the gap in gender for cyclists and non-cyclists in the USA. The authors found that male and females had differences in their likelihood of choosing cycling regarding variables such as education, occupation and income. For instance, women with less education and with low income were less likely to use the bicycle for commuting opposite to this, men in same conditions were more likely to use the bicycle. The authors suggest that women face more

constraints and have less tendency to see the bicycle as a mode of transportation.

In summary, from the literature reviewed it is possible conclude that perceived image and attitudes play a role influencing peoples’ intention to cycle. But also other factors of social psychological

dimension. Thus, changing peoples’ behaviour to achieve modal shift towards cycling requires explore the role of other influential factors linked to concerns about personal image and social status. And these factors affect every road user in different manner, because research has shown that cyclists and no-cyclists are different. To be able to create groups according to their attitudes can help policy makers to tailor the measures to the groups more willing to change their behaviour and this could be a first step to achieve modal shift. Research has pointed that market segmentation techniques could be helpful to create these groups. In the following section, there is an introduction to the attitudinal market segmentation and a brief review of the literature of segmentation and cycling.

2.4.6 Market Segmentation Techniques and Applicability in