Closing the gender gap: Temporary cycleways and bicycle ridership in Mexico City before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective We assessed changes in bicycle ridership patterns associated with COVID-19-related restrictions and the implementation of large-scale temporary cycleways in Mexico City. We assessed differences in overall, male, and female bicycle ridership before and after the onset of the pandemic and the introduction of temporary cycleways, according to their availability, and examined weekly post-onset ridership trends. Methods Quasi-experimental study using manual bicycle counts collected across street segments with regular, temporary, or no cycleways. Data were collected at three timepoints: October 2019–March 2020 (Time 1, 84 segments, 1541 observations), August–November 2020 (Time 2, 60 different segments, 2135 observations), and November 2021–February 2022 (Time 3, same 60 segments, 2266 observations). Crude, adjusted, and inverse-probability-weighted Poisson models with time-by-cycleway interaction terms estimated changes in ridership over time. Fixed-effects Poisson models assessed weekly trends from Time 2 to Time 3. Results Relative to stable trends on streets without cycleways, those with cycleways experienced greater ridership increases at Time 2 (AIRR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.35–1.61) and Time 3 (AIRR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.60–1.89), with stronger associations among female riders (AIRR Range: 1.51–1.95). From Time 2 to Time 3, male ridership declined on streets with no or regular cycleways (0.1%–0.3% weekly decrease), but remained stable on temporary ones. Female ridership increased weekly on streets with temporary cycleways (0.6%) and without cycleways (0.2%), and remained stable on regular cycleways. Conclusion Temporary cycleways were associated with sustained or increasing ridership, particularly among women, suggesting their potential to support more equitable and longer-term transitions toward cycling in large Latin American cities.