Cycling

Are We Underestimating the Benefits of Cycling?

Active travel, particularly cycling, is increasingly recognised as a public health strategy to promote physical activity and prevent non-communicable diseases, but how good are we at evaluating the economic benefits of active travel? This paper undertook a review of the economic evaluations of cycling infrastructure.

Key Takeaways

• All studies that were included in the review reported positive economic returns.
• Equity impacts were rarely considered. The findings from the only study which did indicated cycleways were more likely to benefit socioeconomically advantaged groups.
• No economic evaluation explored whether investing in a cycling structure would be more/less cost-effective compared to other measures that might improve population physical activity levels.
• Alternative transport interventions such as traffic calming measures, introducing congestion charges, or offering subsidies for public transport were not considered.
• Maintenance costs can be substantial, but were not included in half the studies.
• Many of the studies used estimates for costs obtained from the literature, even though cycling structures need to reflect local conditions.
• The studies tended to use data on travel to work or school only (utilitarian travel) rather than cycling in general.
• The time benefits of shifting people out of cars and reduced congestion were rarely included in the evaluation.
• No study incorporated potential additional health impacts, such as those related to mental health or overall well-being.

Comment

Given how much active transport is considered to be an essential component for improving our cities, it is very disappointing that the general level of economic evaluation has significant gaps, especially as in many cases, these would improve the cost-benefit ratio and strengthen the case for active transport investment.

It would be helpful if a global body developed a comprehensive guide.

What next?

How good is your economic evaluation of active transport projects? Does it need to be improved?

Road Safety

Wales' Bold 20mph Experiment: The Data Two Years Later

Two years ago, the Welsh Government reduced all 30mph roads to 20mph, about 35% of all roads in Wales. This blog and newspaper article have looked at how it has gone.

Key Takeaways

• Drivers have slowed down, although the average is above the 20mph limit.
• There has been a 17% (5 people) reduction in deaths, a 19% (75) reduction in those seriously injured and a 41% (550) reduction in those slightly injured.
• Roads with speeds of 40mph and above saw an increase in casualties.
• The cost to implement the scheme is up to £40 million. In the first year, the savings from reduced casualties are estimated to have been £44 million.
• Car insurance premiums have dropped by £45 per year on average (around £90 million across all vehicles in Wales).
• Average journey times increased in 57 out of 60 routes, but in the majority of cases (44 out of 57) by no more than two minutes.
• The largest increase in average journey time was just under four minutes, a 5.9% increase in overall journey time on a 61km route.
• The number of speeding fines has increased, but the growth has been steeper on faster roads. More than 130,000 drivers, 34% of people with licences in Wales, have been caught breaking the lower limit since it was introduced.
• The policy has been controversial. The backlash has included protests, defacing and knocking down new speed limit signs, and a petition signed by nearly half a million people opposing the policy. When a poll was taken a year ago, 7 out of 10 people opposed it.
• In some areas, roads are going back to 30mph.

Comment

Whilst Wales took a big bang approach to reduce speeds to 20mph, other jurisdictions like London have taken a more incremental approach, relying on local support to establish 20mph and increasing the numbers as more streets have wanted to be like their neighbours and go to 20mph. Although London's approach is slower, it is far less controversial and might be more sustainable as a policy. The Welsh government could lose an election next year to a party that promises to remove the slower speeds.

An additional significant benefit of 20mph, which is not discussed, is that it makes it more likely that people will walk and cycle. It will be interesting to see the cycling figures in the future.

What Next?

Do you have a strategy for implementing slower speeds?

Roads and Parking

Reclaiming Our Cities: A Guide to Reducing Road and Parking Footprints

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute has updated its Pavement Buster's Guide - Why and How to Reduce the Amount of Land Paved for Roads and Parking Facilities.

Key Takeaways

• Paved area can often be significantly reduced in ways that are cost-effective and highly beneficial.
• Reducing the size of roads and parking facilities can provide many benefits, including more compact development, improved walking conditions, reduced stormwater management costs and heat island effects, more green space and habitat, and more liveable communities.
• Strategies to reduce road and parking area include:
  • Use policies and planning practices that result in more compact, mixed-use, multi-modal communities, as opposed to sprawl.
  • Favour Space-Efficient Travel Modes. Walking, cycling and public transit require less land for roads and parking than cars.
  • Educate decision-makers concerning the full costs of excessive road and parking supply.
  • Green Roofs - buildings that minimise stormwater runoff and heat island effects.
  • Reduce Street Width Requirements
  • Reduce or Eliminate Off-street Parking Mandates
  • Stormwater management fees (a utility fee based on impervious surface area to fund stormwater management).
  • Parking Management (various strategies that encourage more efficient use of parking facilities).
  • Efficient Road and Parking Pricing
  • Overflow Plans. Excessive parking requirements are often justified to meet occasional peak demands.
  • Use Parking Facilities More Efficiently
  • Parking Taxes
  • Structured and Underground Parking instead of surface parking.
  • Infill and Brownfield Redevelopment
  • Complete Streets, Streetscaping and Road Space Reallocation
  • Encourage shared right-of-way. There may be opportunities to share rights-of-way between roads and other utilities.
  • Neighbourhood Parks
  • Improve Facility Design - Various design features can reduce road and parking facility environmental impacts.

Comment

Mark Twain famously said, “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore”. Given the scarcity of land, you would think that we would use it very carefully and efficiently. However, when it comes to land for roads and parking, this is often far from true, often at great expense to taxpayers, more desirable uses (e.g. housing), the environment and wellbeing. Despite this, few places have comprehensive strategies for minimising the space allocated to roads and parking. Singapore, which has significant land constraints, is a notable exception.

What next?

Do you have a strategy for minimising the space allocated to roads and parking?

Quick Adventures in Transport Wonderland

Here is what I came across this week:

• ​This paper looks into the barriers to e-cargo bike adoption.
• The Streets Ahead podcast had some interesting interviews with people who have been transforming streets in Milan, Vienna and elsewhere.
• ​This research looked at the factors impacting Councillors' transport decision-making.

Blog

Bot Wars and Big Bangs: How AI is About to Transform Infrastructure Delivery

This week, I had a guest blog from Pete Church, a transport infrastructure executive with over 30 years experience, discussing how AI might impact transport infrastructure projects.

Innovation

Toyota Woven City: A Test Course for Mobility

​Here is Toyota's attempt at imagining the future.

Tool

Predicting Individual Travel Behaviour in Multimodal Public Transport

​This paper describes a prediction model that sets a new benchmark for individual travel behaviour predictions.