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How to Increase Bicycling for Daily Travel

How to Increase Bicycling for Daily Travel

Active Living Research, a National Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has released a new report that aims provide cities with the most effective strategies for increasing daily bicycle travel.

Active Living Research, a National Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has released a new report that aims provide cities with the most effective strategies for increasing daily bicycle travel.

Authors Jennifer Dill, PhD, Portland State University; Susan L. Handy, PhD, University of California, Davis; and John Pucher, PhD, Rutgers University, have summarized existing evidence from worldwide research into increasing bicycling.

Their key findings include:

  • Infrastructure for bicycling in cities is strongly associated with overall higher levels of bicycling to work, school, or shopping.
  • The most effective infrastructure for increasing bicycling for daily travel is still unclear though protected bike lanes have been shown to significantly increase bicycling on those routes.
  • Infrastructure must be paired with programs and policies that support bicycling to have the greatest effect on bicycling levels.
  • Programs including bike to work weeks, ciclovias, Safe Routes to School, and bike share have been shown to increase the effectiveness of investments in bicycling infrastructure.
  • Making driving more expensive and less convenient through policies may be necessary to maximize the effectiveness of infrastructure investments in encouraging bicycling.
  • Land use and development policies must help ensure that destinations for daily needs are within convenient bicycling distances.

Read the report here: activelivingresearch.com/dailybiketravel

2 Comments

  • Todd Edelman

    Land use and development policies must help ensure that destinations for daily needs are within convenient bicycling distances (for people of all income levels).

  • Allan Harmsworth

    A Dutch study shows power-assisted bicycles (ebikes) allowed a greater number and range of people to travel more often and further than muscle only powered pedal bicycles. Ownership of ebikes amongst the general population there is 5% but rises to 10% for the over 60 group, and that group travels twice as far as the over 60 group with pedal only bicycles on average.

    Unfortunately cities here in Canada are moving to restrict ebikes due to vague “safety concerns” which is counter productive to reducing air pollution and congestion, one more ebike means one less car on the road.

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