An occasional update on items from the Velo-city.
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CYCLING SAVINGS IN SYDNEY
From Transport Newsletter 180:
“Sydney’s cycleways will save the city millions of dollars in travel time, pollution and fatalities over the next 30 years, a new report suggests.
Economists put a dollar value on factors surrounding the cycleways: Human life ($165,659 per year), health ($487 per year), and sitting in gridlock ($12.20 per hour). By crunching the numbers, top global economists AECOM found that over 30 years the paths would save Sydney $507 million – or 84c per kilometre.
… the report predicted the now empty bike lanes would be busy once the network was finished with demand skyrocketing 263% in the next six years.
Less congested streets would save $97 million, speedier journeys $143 million, fewer road deaths $40 million, slashed absenteeism $107 million, and ‘journey ambience’ – less stress for cyclists – would save $129.8 million.
“Significant benefits will be accrued by individuals, government and the general economy through the full development of the network’, the Economic Appraisal of the Inner Sydney Regional Bicycle Network said. ‘Travellers stand to benefit through travel time savings, avoided car costs, journey ambience and health benefits at the cost of a relatively small increase in accident costs’.
‘Cycleways are part of the transport solution For every $1 spent on cycleways, the benefit to our economy is approximately $4 – that’s compared with an average of $2 for motorways’.
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A PINK MEN’S BIKE
“In Amsterdam, show me your bicycle and I will tell you who you are.”
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A COMPLETE STREET
Watch to at least 50 seconds, ’cause then it gets even more, um, complete.
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STUDY STUDY
A McGill University study takes a look at the growth of cycling in its hometown, Montreal:
Ridership at the five locations went up by 20 to 27 per cent from 2008 to 2009, and by 35 to 40 per cent in 2010 compared with 2008, the authors found. “The increase has been enormous,” said Miranda-Moreno. “There are places where congestion (on the cycling routes) will soon be a problem.”
Meanwhile, a study in Portland finds “More Bicycling Means Safer Streets“:
Bicycle crashes citywide have risen little since 1991 — despite the dramatic increase in cycling. There was a noticable rise in reported crashes in 2008 and 2009, but that was mostly due to changes in policy that have required even minor bicycle accidents to be recorded. ..’
Now comes the payoff. Portland’s overall crash mortality rate for all traffic accidents plunged during this period ….
Don Buchanan is more sceptical:
It’s been a long time since I took a statistics course but one thing sticks out – the difference between correlation and causation. The article seems to be confusing the two in the section on Portland’s mortality rates for all traffic accidents. A similar analogy would be to compare deaths by drowning and ice cream sales by month of the year, and conclude that high ice cream consumption in the summer months leads to an increase in deaths by drowning!
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