From Car-Oriented to People-Oriented Transport Systems

I've been compiling a list of proven policies and approaches for transforming car-oriented into people-oriented transport systems, with demonstrated success in building both community and political support.

Now I’m sharing these insights with you in an upcoming free, one-hour webinar.

Over 100 transport leaders have already signed up.

There are two sessions available, so you can choose the time that best fits your location:

• Session A (Asia-Pacific / Europe friendly time) → [Register here]
• Session B (Americas / Europe friendly time) → [Register here]

E-Cargo Bikes

Try Before You Buy: How Trials Could Unlock UK E-Cargo Bike Growth

This week, I was sent this research paper that explores the potential of e-cargo bikes as a personal transport mode in the UK, reporting on a series of surveys and trials.

Key Takeaways

• In the UK, e-cargo bike uptake is very low, with only 4000 sales in 2022, compared with 70,000 in France and 90,000 in Germany.
• A nationally representative survey showed that living in London, being aged 18–34 and being a less frequent car user were associated with e-cargo bike use.
• 49 households were loaned an e-cargo bike for a month in summer 2023, in suburbs of Leeds, Brighton and Oxford.
• By Autumn 2024, 10 trial households had bought e-cargo bikes.
• High usage was achieved in the trials, with over 50% of the distance travelled replacing car use.
• Currently, only 2% of households own an e-cargo bike. 11% of non-users saw themselves potentially riding an e-cargo bike. This rose to 20% in Oxford, a city with a strong cycling culture.
• Concerns about routes, security, and parking at unfamiliar destinations emerged as barriers to use.
• Issues to address to encourage uptake included purchase costs, theft, negative perceptions of battery safety and a lack of e-cargo-bike appropriate infrastructure.
• There are currently non-adopter groups in the UK for whom e-cargo bikes represent a realistic and desirable form of mobility.

Comment

The research shows that e-cargo bikes have significant growth potential in the UK if barriers to adoption are reduced, particularly in infrastructure. I suspect the potential number of households will also increase, as the UK strengthens its cycling culture.

The ability to 'try before you buy' does seem to be an effective tool for increasing e-cargo bike uptake, and bike lending libraries may be a good policy to pursue, especially where cycling infrastructure is already good.

What Next?

Have you incorporated the potential of e-cargo bikes into your cycling strategies?

Bike-Share

Europe's Bike-Share Returns: Good, but Are We Investing in the Wrong Thing?

This week saw the release of this widely read report on the return on investment from bike share. There were lots of summaries on social media. However, I think they missed a few important considerations, so I thought I'd better cover the report in the newsletter this week.

Key Takeaways

• About 150 European cities across 30 countries operate bike-sharing schemes, with a fleet of over 430,000 bicycles.
• Bike share trips replace walking (29%), public transport (56%) and car trips (15%).
• Bikeshare across Europe delivers €305 million in annual benefits. Most of those benefits come from employment income (€224M).
• Bike-sharing schemes save 46,000 tons of CO₂e yearly.
• By replacing car trips, they reduce air pollution, prevent 968 chronic diseases and save €40 million in healthcare costs.
• They also ease traffic, reclaiming 760,000 hours lost to congestion, worth €30 million in productivity gains.
• 6,000 direct jobs are supported.
• Cutting transport costs by up to 90% compared to cars.
• Every euro invested yields a 10% annual return, generating €1.10 in positive externalities.
• By 2030, these benefits could triple to €1 billion if bike-sharing is prioritised. Driven by: demand and supply increases, fleet electrification and territorial expansion.

Comment

So what do I think is missing in the commentary on the report?

Any potential investment in transport should be prioritised against alternative ways of spending that money, and that is where bikeshare is not great.

Many bike lane infrastructure projects deliver returns of several hundred per cent. Indeed, the report highlights the need for better cycling infrastructure to increase the returns on bike share.

That doesn't mean I am against bike share. It just means that, all other things being equal, the evidence shows we should invest in bike infrastructure first.

What Next?

Have you prioritised your transport investments? In particular, are you investing enough in high-return bike lanes and other cycling infrastructure?

School Active Transport

A Community-Led Approach to School Active Transport

Prue Oswin has spent 5 years planning active transport for schools in the car-dependent Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. She recently wrote an article about her experience and appeared on the Streets and People podcast.

Key Takeaways

• The risk of deadly crashes with vehicles is the biggest barrier to children walking or riding to school.
• Barriers to children's travel are often crossings or intersections that sever journeys along otherwise quiet paths and streets.
• There's less pushback when delivering projects that address these barriers, and they can help active transport gain a foothold in a community, opening the door to more ambitious works.
• Parents and carers are easily engaged on the subject of providing active transport infrastructure to get children to school.
• Start with the community. Ask parents and carers where they needed safer crossings and better paths, and how they felt about different types of crossings.
• Watch out for officials speaking on behalf of an entire demographic without evidence to support claims.
• If children can’t walk the last 50 metres to school, they can’t walk longer distances either.
• Treatments that meet 'standards' may not be adequate to meet the needs of parents and carers.
• This approach, combined with the RideScore program, has led to significant increases (55%) in active transport to school.
• Some projects are high risk. They face considerable community pushback and sometimes require enormous investment to reconfigure road space.
• When the community proposes projects, they are more likely to be accepted, minimising the risk of cancellation.
• Good active transport investment meets three criteria:
  • Evidence of community need
  • Prevent harm
  • Feasible and cost-effective

Comment

One of the key challenges in moving to people-oriented transport systems is finding effective ways to gain community support for change. Prue's bottom-up approach shows significant community support for improving active transport to schools.

A combination of infrastructure and programs, such as Ridescore, School Streets, and Walking and Cycling Buses, should be very effective at significantly increasing the number of children using active transport to get to school.

What next?

Do you have a strategy for increasing active transport to schools?

Quick Adventures in Transport Wonderland

Here is what else I came across this week:

• Robotaxis won’t fix congestion—they'll reinvent it
• Street Design Slows Cars More Than Speed Limits
• The Railway Needs More Money. Here’s How It Can Get It

Blog

Can Carpooling Unlock Better Bus Services?

This week, in my blog, I looked at how we might make it more politically palatable to increase the number of lanes that prioritise buses by taking an incremental approach.

Tool

EquiMobility: Micromobility accessibility and equity in global cities

This tool examines how access to shared bikes, e-bikes, and scooters varies across and within cities.