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1. Introduction
Cities that promote and support cycling for transportation reap many public health benefits for their populations, such as reduced risk for chronic disease, lower rates of overweight and obesity, fewer traffic accidents and injuries, and lower levels of air pollution [1,2,3,4,5]. However, increasing the population prevalence of cycling for transportation is a big challenge for many countries. In Latin American cities, for example, less than 10% of the adult population use a bicycle for transport [6]. This contrasts with European countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark, where more than 25% of transport-related trips are undertaken by bicycle [7].
Cycling for transportation is most prevalent in men and in people of middle-age and young adults [3,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Studies from high-income countries show that built and social environments as well as associated policies are very important in terms of increasing the use of the bicycle for transportation purposes. Two reviews showed that bike paths, a safe riding environment, integration of the bicycle with other forms of transportation, bike parking, bicycle ownership, and interventions based on education and mass media are important factors for increasing the use of this mode of transportation [15,16]. Empirical studies show that access to bike paths close to residences is associated with cycling for transportation [8,10,11,12,17,18,19]. However, knowledge of the factors that explain the use of cycling in Latin American countries is limited. For example, a review of cycling for transportation in Curitiba (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), and Bogota (Colombia) recommended that policy-makers increase bike path availability and accessibility as a way of promoting active transportation [6]. However, a study conducted in Curitiba found no significant association between the presence of bike paths in 500-m buffers with cycling for transportation [20]. This is important because some megacities in upper-middle income countries such as Brazil and Colombia are increasing the length of bike paths to promote and support cycling. Sao Paulo (Southeastern, Brazil) is a good example, because this city has more than 400 km of bike paths. In addition, 4.7 million people use the subway daily for transportation on weekdays [21]. In this case, it is important to investigate if bike paths and train or subway stations in Sao Paulo are associated with cycling for transportation. Therefore, the aims of this study...