The benefits of cycling: viewing cyclists as travellers rather than nonmotorists
Maria Börjesson (mariab@abe.kth.se) and
Jonas Eliasson (jonas.eliasson@liu.se)
Additional contact information
Maria Börjesson: CTS, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
No 2015:17, Working papers in Transport Economics from CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)
Abstract:
Purpose: This chapter provides a thinkpiece on economic evaluation and policy for cycling. Bicycle investments are often motivated by a desire to improve health, the environment and congestion conditions. However, we argue that since the bicycle is a part of the transport system, it should be evaluated as such. Focusing on implications for cycling appraisal in general, we also discuss two conflicting trends in Stockholm: a sharp decrease in cycling in the outer areas, and a sharp increase in the inner parts. Methodology: We use i) travel survey data to analyze the potential to reduce congestion through improvements for cyclists, ii) travel survey data from 19861987 and 2004 and bicycle counts over 25 years and iii) a value of time survey of Stockholm cyclists including questions of exercise habits. Findings Additional benefits in appraisal from reduced car traffic and improved health seem to be small. Given bicyclists’ high values of time and low investment costs, bicycling investments are still likely to be socially beneficial. The conflicting bicycling trends can be explained by i) increased road congestion and improved bicycle infrastructure, ii) increased visibility of bicyclists generating a ‘positive spiral’ iii) increased interest in physical fitness and changes in the relative prices of cars versus central residences turn cycling into a highstatus mode, iv) in peripheral areas, increasing distances and less dense land use patterns decrease cycling levels. Practical implications: The results underscore the need for dense, mixeduse spatial planning and ‘smart’ marketing using the effects of cyclist visibility to reinforce the ‘status’ of cycling.
Keywords: Appraisal; Value of time; Determinants of bicycling; Trends; Bicycle; Cost benefit analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R41 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2015-10-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-tre and nep-ure
Note: Tidigare publicerad i Parkin, J. (ed.) Cycling and sustainability. Emerald, 2012
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Citations:
Published in Cycling and sustainability, Parkin, John (eds.), 2012, chapter 10, pages 247-268, Emerald.
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2015_017
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