- Email: [email protected]
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World
CHAPTE R 10
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World Rates of cycling across the world vary widely. In countries like the United States, Australia, and Canada, bike trips make up only about 1% of total trips.1 On the other hand, in countries like Denmark and Australia, bike trips make up 18% and 26% of total trips, respectively.1 As discussed in detail throughout this book, bicycling has a number of benefits, not just to an individual’s health but to their social environment, environment, and economy. These benefits are summarized in Chapter 2. Some have identified potential risks associated with bicycling – primarily related to safety and cost (i.e., building infrastructure, purchasing equipment, building programs); however, the benefits have been shown on multiple occasions to outweigh any potential drawbacks of cycling (Chapter 2). It is, therefore, beneficial to attempt to improve rates of cycling around the globe. This concluding chapter draws on previous chapters to summarize how cycling can benefit communities and how it has been promoted in communities across the world.
Promoting Cycling in Cities of Different Sizes Cycling can be especially feasible in small cities due to smaller size, less traffic, less public transportation, and potentially closer and stronger social ties among residents as evidenced by U.S. cities like Davis, CA and Boulder, CO.2 As it relates to engineering, the physical characteristics of smaller cities may be better supportive of cycling. A smaller city generally means more of the city is accessible by bike and lower populations mean less traffic (although these are still dependent on the structure of the city and the number of residents). In fact, many smaller European cities have cycling levels that far exceed larger cities.2 Moreover, smaller cities may have stronger social ties leading to increased cycling. Residents in smaller cities may also have stronger ties to the government and may therefore have the opportunity to pass bike-friendly legislation with more ease. For more detail on policy and legislative approaches, refer Chapter 8. In large cities, on the other hand, longer trip distances due to greater land area, traffic, and network/connectedness can impact cycling rates. On the other hand, there are many more origins and destinations in larger cities, leading to potentially more riding. That said, bikes could help reduce traffic congestion and crowding of public transportation as well as help reduce pollution and noise pollution to create cleaner air and quieter streets. Furthermore, Bicycling for Transportation http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812642-4.00010-6
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Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
210 Chapter 10 bicycling can lead to greater economic benefits in cities of all sizes. Building bicycle infrastructure is much less expensive than building roads and highways2; bikes are generally affordable for most people, and these bikes can provide forms of transportation to lower income populations. Certain small cities in particular are highly conducive to cycling (e.g., college campuses, town centers, towns with large employers), as these cities have a large number of origins and destinations for cycling. Institutional and organizational strategies for universities and employers are discussed in Chapter 5 and will be discussed more below. While it is potentially easier to implement some of these infrastructural changes in smaller cities as compared to larger cities, larger cities tend to have more funding and thus major endeavors may not be as feasible for implementation in smaller cities. Larger cities generally have greater diversity (i.e., income, race/ethnicity, education, lifestyle) among its residents.3,4 These larger cities also typically have younger constituents and, therefore, are on the forefront of economic and societal trends.3 Given these facts, one would expect larger cities to have much higher rates of cycling compared to smaller cities. As mentioned, larger cities have greater diversity as it relates to income levels – a major factor in determining who cycles and who does not. Automobile ownership is, unsurprisingly, associated with income. These lower levels of car ownership are associated with more cycling. Although a relationship exists, this is simply a correlation and not causation – it cannot be inferred if lower car ownership leads to more cycling or if more cycling leads to lower car ownership. Still, rates of cycling are higher among lower income individuals.5 Second, cycling is more popular among younger generations.1 When promoting cycling in cities of any size, the demographics of the constituents should be taken into account. Despite having the “right” population for cycling, other factors like land use patterns and transportation tend to deter high rates of cycling in larger cities.6 Larger cities typically have much more extensive public transportation than in smaller cities. In some cases, this may reduce the number of people who choose to ride a bike as they instead choose to take public transportation. However, if interventions and strategies are implemented correctly, the presence of extensive public transit systems opens the door for more opportunities for a stronger relationship between cyclists and transit thereby increasing cycling rates. In cities of all sizes there is usually some spatial variation of cycling with more cycling near city centers and more cycling in neighborhoods with mixed land use with a greater number of origins and destinations. Potentially despite the spatial make-up and land use of a city, it is possible that a city can be too big to support cycling. In extra-large cites (tens of millions of people) distances may be too far to bike, there may be far too much congestion and noise, and there may be more competition for other modes of travel (these cities generally favor
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World 211 walking and public transportation over cycling). In this circumstance, it may be beneficial to treat these extra-large cities as multiple smaller cities when improving infrastructure and implementing programming/intervention strategies. The first stop on our tour around the world takes us to Beijing, China. Beijing has taken great effort to promote cycling in their city through an extensive and widespread bikeshare program despite its extra-large size.
Bikeshare in Beijing, China. Sadhna Agrawal
Case Study 10.1: Beijing, Bikeshare, and Air Pollution – Beijing, China Air quality in Beijing has been a growing concern for several decades. In 1980, bicycle use in the capital city was abundant, with more than 60% or commuters using bicycles, but this has dropped to less than 12% in 2014, with the bulk of the trips now being taken by automobiles.7 Every day more than 5 million cars clog the roadways throughout the city, resulting in perpetual issues with air pollution that dissuades bikers from hitting the streets and causing many to wear air filtration masks.8 In 2012, the pilot phase of the Beijing municipal public bicycle sharing system was launched with 2000 bicycles and 63 stations.9 It has quickly expanded to have more than 50,000 bicycles and 1000 stations, with 3000–4000 daily rentals.7,9 The goals of the bike share were focused on
212 Chapter 10 decreasing traffic congestion and improving air quality but they have faced significant cultural challenges with trying to promote biking in a city where car ownership are status symbols. Nonetheless, the goal of 20%–23% of trips being taken by bike share remain for the city’s transportation officials.10 This goal would need to be approached concurrently with measures to reduce air pollution, including increased greenspace, improved water quality, and different building codes to improve air flow through tight urban spaces.11
The Five E’s The League of American Bicyclists and Safe Routes to School recognize organizations, schools, and communities for a commitment to bicycling evaluated on the “five E’s”: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning. Safe Routes to School recognizes a sixth E: equity. Throughout this chapter, each of the five E’s will be addressed in detail. A summary of the five E’s is presented in Box 10.1 and Table 5.1. BOX 10.1 The Five E’s12 • Engineering • Physical environment is a key factor in cycling • Bike networks should be well-connected • Feature should include bike lanes, quiet streets, shared use trails, and bike parking • Policies can ensure the infrastructure is developed and maintained • Education • Bicycle safety education should be a part of public education • Communities, businesses, and universities can offer programs and options for adults looking to improve their skills • Motorists and bicyclists should be made aware of their rights • Encouragement • Communities, businesses, and universities have a major role to play in promoting cycling • Bike-minded days like National Bike Month, Bike to Work Day can help with encouragement • Further options for promotion include producing community bike maps, bike-themed celebrations, and commuter challenges • Enforcement • Basic bike laws/regulations/policies ensure the safety of all road users, including bicyclists • Law enforcement officials need to understand the laws they should be enforcing • Bike advocacy groups and law enforcement should work together closely to maximize proper enforcement • Evaluation and Planning • Communities should have a master bike plan • Dedicated funding, bicycle advisory committees, and bike coordinators make this process easier • A number of evaluation techniques exist – each should be examined carefully to determine which one or which combination of them is most useful for your community
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Engineering Bike-friendly engineering (also referred to as the bike-friendly environment) provides safe and convenient places for bicyclists to ride and park. Given that the physical environment is a very important factor in determining if people within the community will bike, infrastructure must be welcoming and supportive of cyclists. A variety of micro-scale and macro-scale infrastructure features can support cycling. The techniques used may vary by the size of the city (i.e., small, large, extra-large), each of which come with their own benefits and challenges. As discussed in more detail in Chapter 7, micro-level engineering changes that can be implemented include travel-related infrastructure, end-of-trip facilities, and integration with transit. Research indicates positive associations with increased cycling and on-/off-street bicycle lanes, signed bicycle routes, bicycle boulevards, bike parking, workplace showers, bike racks on transit, bike parking at transit stops, and bikeshare systems. Additionally, shared lane markings, bicycle boxes, and bicycle-specific traffic signals have been associated with improved safety of cyclists. Crash and injury statistics vary widely by country and city (Chapter 2). Nevertheless, cities with the best bike-supportive infrastructure are safest for cyclists. Likewise, cities with the lowest are the most dangerous for cyclists. “Safer cycling encourages more cycling, and more cycling encourages greater safety”.2 Our second stop on our worldwide tour takes us to Delft in the Netherlands – a community that is widely known for its commitment to bike-friendly infrastructure and a bike-friendly culture. Case Study 10.2: Exemplifying a Bike-Friendly Community – Delft, Netherlands Delft is a town located in the western part of the Netherlands with a population of just under 100,000. The town is 15 km (∼9 miles) from Rotterdam and 10 km (∼6 miles) from The Hague, both of which are easily accessible by train. Within the town of Delft lies a university – Delft University of Technology that acts as a major employer in the town with 15,000 students. Rates of cycling in Delft are some of the highest in the world. The high rates of cycling across the community of Delft are a direct result of the community’s demographics, the topography/climate, and the government’s commitment to ensuring their community is bike-friendly. The population of Delft is highly educated with a large foreign community. The topography is flat with a moderate climate. Regulations prevent urban sprawl and the government began to actively encourage cycling in the 1980s. Between 1982 and 1987 the city constructed an extensive bicycle system comprised of three interconnected networks: (1) an urban network, (2) a district network, and (3) a neighborhood network. These provide an interconnected grid of bike facilities covering all of Delft and resulted in a 7% increase in number of bicycle trips from 1982 to 1987. It appears that this increase in riding came from residents who already cycled but began cycling more often and for longer distances. With that said, no further increases were seen after a 1993 analysis.
214 Chapter 10 The city of Delft is now heavily focused on improving infrastructure and parking. There is ample bike parking at the train station and traffic signals being reprogrammed to reduce waiting time for cyclists and intersections. The community is also investing in additional measures, including circulating information about parking and infrastructure, attempting to reduce bike theft, conducting mechanical checks of bikes at schools, improving bike routes to neighboring cities, and providing paid but subsidized guarded bike parking in the city center. The government has also introduced policies intended to deter driving. For example, entry to the city center for car was limited in 2000, posts prevent entry of most cars from the historical city center, and there are less than 4000 parking spaces – all of which are paid spots.
Education Proper education is required to provide potential riders of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds the necessary confidence and skills to ride a bike safely. Chapter 5 discussed institutional and organizational strategies to promote cycling and Chapter 6 discussed community level strategies to promote cycling. To promote and encourage cycling, many communities offer some sort of educational programming on bicycling skills and safety often tailored for different age groups.2 The content of these programs differs drastically by city, design, and curriculum. For example, in the Netherlands, a country noted for its extremely high rates of biking, children received traffic education in school from the age of four. These programs teach children the “practical skills” required to safely ride – allowing them to actually practice riding on the road.13 Contrarily, many other countries do not provide this practical training to their children. In the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand Safe Routes to School initiative are a major way to educate children and their parents on bicycling. Safe Routes to School programming is discussed in more detail in Chapters 5 and 8. Similar educational programming is also available outside of schools in communities, universities, and workplaces to both children and adults. Unfortunately, outside of Safe Routes to School, relatively few studies have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of educational programming. Therefore, it is difficult to identify which educational strategies are most effective. In addition to implementing campaigns to educate people on how to bike, awareness campaigns can also be used to make bicycling more popular. Our third stop on the globe takes us to Western Australia. In early 2017, Western Australia’s Road Safety Commission developed a campaign called “Might Be a Mate” (how very Australian of them) to bring awareness to cycling and cycling injury. For more detail on this campaign, see the case study 10.3. Case Study 10.3: Might be a Mate14 – Western Australia, Australia The Australian government and media were noticing an increasing trend of crashes among cyclists in Western Australia resulting in serious injury and death. In Australia, cyclists make up only 2% of road users but cycling fatalities make up over 3.5% of all fatalities. Thus, the government of Western Australia’s Road Safety Commission conceptualized a mass media education campaign aimed at increasing awareness of cyclist safety across the community.
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World 215 Key behavior messages of this campaign focused on practical issues like safe passing distances with an overarching safety message targeted at cyclists and motorists. But in general, the overall message of this campaign was safety and respect. The campaign was delivered via television, radio, and billboard advertisement. Campaign objectives were: • For motorists to understand the importance of maintaining a safe distance around cyclists • For cyclists to understand what they are responsible for when it comes to safe cycling behavior • To increase the awareness of rules for cycling/cyclists An offshoot of the Might be a Mate campaign was called “Could be Cometti”. Dennis Cometti is an Australian sports commentator and former player/coach in Australian football. This second phase of the campaign was aimed at recommending a one-meter (∼3.3 ft) passing distance and also utilized television, radio, and billboard advertising.
Encouragement As seen with engineering, cities with the best culture surrounding cycling are generally the safest. This culture is established via campaigns and programming intended to promote and encourage biking within a community. Creating a strong bike culture can only be accomplished with coordination and cooperation from various people throughout a community. At the community level bike coalitions and bike advocacy groups can do their part by promoting awareness for cycling. Communities can encourage and support bicycling via infrastructural (engineering) improvements and by putting on/sponsoring bike-related events like National Bike Month, Bike to Work Days, commuter challenges, community rides, bike-themed celebrations, bike-supportive policies/legislation, campaigns, and interventions (see Chapter 6 for more detail). Communities can also do their part by distributing maps of bike routes/trails and providing educational workshops to its residents as discussed above. Institutions and organizations also have a unique part to play in the encouragement of cycling (Chapter 5). Many workplaces and universities have the opportunity to provide the same encouragement opportunity as communities described previously. Institutions and universities can also incentivize cycling as a form of encouragement. In addition to institutional and community level bike encouragement, cyclists have an obligation to encourage cycling as well. Chapters 2 and 4 discussed the very important role social support and connectedness play in increasing rates of cycling. By shifting cultural norms at the community level cycling becomes both safer and more commonplace. Buy-in from the community, residents, institutions, and organizations within the community is crucial for an all-inclusive bike-friendly community. Some cities in particular have done an amazing job at taking a holistic approach to promoting cycling within their community. Our next stop around the world takes us to Bogotá, Colombia in South America, where Open Streets/Ciclovías were originated, a major step in the right direction as far as bicycle encouragement is concerned. Read more about it in the case study 10.4.
216 Chapter 10 Case Study 10.4: The Origin of Ciclovías (Open Streets)15 – Bogotá, Colombia Ciclovía is a Spanish term for “cycle-way” – a permanent bike path or closing of a street to automobiles for use by cyclists or pedestrians. Ciclovías were originally conceived in Bogotá, Colombia in 1974 by Jaime Ortiz Marino and fellow cyclists. Currently, Ciclovías in Bogotá are an interconnected circuit of more than 100 km (∼62 miles) spanning the city, which are open to cyclists and pedestrians and closed to cars on Sundays and from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm. The origins of these Ciclovías are an interesting part of history in the bicycling community. The “Mitín a favor de la Cicla” was an initiative of a non-profit organization called “Pro-Cicla” in collaboration with the Administration Department of Transit and Transport and served as the original Ciclovía. This event was attended by more than 5000 Bogotans who came out to protest the congestion and pollution caused by cars as well as the lack of recreational opportunities across the city. After the success of this original event, in June 1976 Bogotá’s Mayor Luis Prieto Ocampo signed a decree making Ciclovía an official program promoted and supported by the city government and Department of Transportation. This decree established four routes that were open to cyclists and pedestrians from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. After nearly two decades Ciclovías were losing their importance, with the Secretary of Transit and Transport referring to them as a “nuisance”. Signs for the Ciclovías were in bad condition and administrative support and programming was waning. Ciclovías had been reduced to less than 20 km (∼12 miles), almost exclusively in middle- and high-income neighborhoods, down from 100 km (∼62 miles) at its inception. But in 1995, under the direction/advisement of Guillermo Peñalosa and Professor Antanas Mockus, the care of Ciclovías transferred from the Secretary of Transit and Transport to the District Institute of Recreation and Sports (IDRD). The IDRD’s vision was to create “the largest temporary park in the world” that contributed to overall quality of life of which the main objectives were: • • • •
Free recreation for all inhabitants Contribute to the improvement of mental and physical health of everyone Improve the environment – less noise and better air quality A “mental change” understanding that streets are a public space that can have different uses at different times of the day and between days of the week • Social integration of citizens of all ages and socioeconomic status • To create a place where all citizens are treated “like equals” From 1995 to 2000, Mockus and Peñalosa oversaw the “re-birth” of the Ciclovía. The cycleways increased from 20 km (∼12 miles) to 121 km (∼75 miles) and now includes lowerincome neighborhoods. The budget increased 10-fold and participation skyrocketed to 1.5 million participants on Sundays and holidays. Hours were extended from 9:00 am–11:00 am to 7:00 am–2:00 pm. An administrative system was created part of which established guardians of the path made up of volunteers and police officers and advertising campaigns were created. As part of the rebirth of the Ciclovía, Bogotá also created “ciclorutas” which are bikeways different from Ciclovías. Informal commerce organized along the Ciclovías, better signage was added, and private sponsorships were obtained. In December 1999, a nocturnal path was created of which more than 3 million people used. Since the early 2000s, Ciclovías are holding strong in Bogotá and variations are now seen across the world in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, and the United States.
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Enforcement A variety of rules and regulations are in place to ensure safe roads for all users, including cyclists. Policies exist to protect cyclists at all levels of government. These polices/laws can be broken down into four major categories: traffic laws for bicyclists, traffic laws for motorists that affect cyclists, bike plans, and Safe Routes to School initiatives. Chapter 8 hits on the issues many communities have with enforcement of existing rules and regulations that promote and encourage biking. Despite the presence of these policies, many communities have difficulty enforcing them for one reason or another. It is of particular importance that law enforcement officials understand these laws (particularly the traffic laws) to be able to properly, justly, and equitably enforce them. Therefore, a strong positive relationship between the bicycling community and law enforcement is imperative. One way this can be accomplished is by having a law enforcement official serve on a community bicycle advisory committee. Another potential way to accomplish this cohesion is by having more police officers on bikes themselves.
Evaluation and Planning To ensure all road users can travel both safely and conveniently, communities should develop written bike plans. Communities that are more bike-friendly spend more time in the planning process compared to communities that are less bike-friendly. Good plans can take different forms and are implemented at various levels of government and with different amounts of community involvement. Master bike plans often include some set of measurable goals (e.g., increase safe bicycling use). This is best accomplished with a dedicated funding, Bicycle Program Coordinators, and bicycle advisory committees. To achieve these goals, it is essential that communities understand the differing techniques that can be used in the evaluation process. Chapter 3 details the techniques that can be used to measure bicycling within the community. These include objective techniques (e.g., standardized protocols, environmental audits, manual counting, portable counters, geographic information systems, global positioning systems, Bluetooth, webcams/crowdsourcing, automated video image processing, bike share systems, permanent counters) and subjective techniques (e.g., national surveillance, targeted surveys, intercept surveys, bikeshare surveying).
A Broad Perspective on Bicycle Friendliness Clearly, not all communities can excel in all areas of bicycle friendliness. For communities working toward their goal of supporting bicycling, it is important to take a comprehensive multi-level approach. Any single category alone is not enough to support the needs of cyclists, they need proper engineering and support and encouragement from many directions in order to make bicycling for transportation a regular choice. The case studies included in this chapter from around the globe have highlighted how community practitioners have been successful in creating a safe environment and bicycling culture that results in greater rates of travel by bicycle. Our final stop around the world takes us to Christchurch, New Zealand. This community undertook a complete overhaul of what biking looked like within the community.
218 Chapter 10 Case Study 10.5: A Chance to Start Over with Cycling: Christchurch, New Zealand Author: Oliver Wilson Christchurch, New Zealand, the largest city on the western shores of the South Island, experienced a devastating earthquake in 2011, killing hundreds of people and levelling thousands of buildings in the community. The Christchurch City Council (CCC) recognized the unique opportunity following the Canterbury earthquakes to develop the city into a ‘cycle city’ through the establishment of a safe and connected cycle network. The CCC prioritized investment in an extensive network of cycle-ways and programs to encourage cycling as a part of every travel and activity, which was seen as crucial to Christchurch’s recovery.16 During transport infrastructure reconstruction, a number of cycle-way design features have been, and continue to be, introduced or improved. These design features include shared paths, bus stop by-passes, painted separated cycle lanes, vertical edge markers, and curb separated cycle-ways. Shared paths achieve separation between cyclists and pedestrians through landscaping or contrasting surface textures to separate cycle and pedestrian paths, as well as good on path markings. Cycle-way by-passes around high frequency bus routes (where buses run every 10– 15 min during peak times) provide cyclists with both priority and increased safety. Photo 10.2 demonstrates the cycle-way by-passing a bus stop via the footpath where the markings and differing textures (asphalt vs. paving) differentiate between pedestrian and cyclist areas of the foot path.
Cycle-way Bus Stop By-pass. Another change was the improvement in the quality and number of painted separated cycle-ways. Green became the specified color of choice in NZ due to its association with environmental friendliness and safety as opposed to the previously incumbent red which cyclists associated with danger and/or stop.17 Painted separated cycle-ways are now present at most major intersections as well as many tight corners where vertical edge markers (such as uprights), raised delineators (such as rumble strips or small curbs), or painted chevrons
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World 219 provide temporary physical separation from vehicles. A painted separated cycle-way along with upright vertical edge markers are shown in Photo 10.3.
Painted Separated Cycle-way and Upright Vertical Edge Markers. Curb-separated cycle-ways achieve separation between cyclists and traffic with either on street parking or a curb with gaps to allow drainage. Photo 10.4 provides an example of a curbseparated cycle-way under construction, where the cycle lane will be separated from the traffic by a raised garden leaving the footpath for pedestrians only.
Curb-separated Cycle-way Under Construction.
220 Chapter 10 Dedicated signals have also been introduced at signalized cyclist/pedestrian road crossings. Photo 10.5 shows such a crossing where the footpath has been separated into lanes for cyclists and pedestrians, with each having their own button that allow a shorter cycle phase to run separately from the pedestrian signal phase, enabling improved traffic capacity which can improve capacity.
Dedicated Signal Crossing.
The city of Christchurch was able to include many of the design principles of a bicycle friendly community and include them as a part of their efforts to rebuild their community with a renewed focused on health, wellness and sustainability.
Conclusions While rates of cycling are indeed increasing, the current state of the world health-wise, socially, environmentally, and economically may be declining faster. Evidence indicates widespread benefits of cycling for health, the social environment, the physical environment, and the economy. While cycling is not the perfect fix, it may be a very important factor in improving the current state of the world. To ensure this occurs, bicycle advocates like us need to do our part to encourage and support cycling domestically and around the world. As exhibited by the case studies presented throughout this chapter and this book, promoting cycling is no easy feat but is certainly accomplishable. We, the authors of this book, hope that by reading this book you have gained a new perspective on why bicycling is important and what you can do to engineer, educate, encourage, enforce, and evaluate cycling in your community!
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References 1. Bassett Jr DR, Pucher J, Buehler R, Thompson DL, Crouter SE. Walking, cycling, and obesity rates in Europe, North America, and Australia. J Phys Act Health 2008;5(6):795–814. 2. Pucher J, Buehler R. City cycling. MIT Press; 2012. 3. Berube A, Frey WH, Friedhoff A, et al. State of metropolitan America: on the front lines of demographic transformation. 4. Crouch C. Competitive cities in the global economy. 5. McDonald NC. Critical factors for active transportation to school among low-income and minority students. Evidence from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey. Am J Prev Med 2008;34(4):341–4. 6. Heinen E, Van Wee B, Maat K. Commuting by bicycle: an overview of the literature. Transport Rev 2010;30(1):59–96. 7. Fong W. The (D)evolution of bicyling and bike share in China and Beijing. 2013. Available from: http:// bikeshare.com/2013/11/can-bike-share-make-beijing-part-of-the-kingdom-of-bicyclesagain/. Accessed 01.11.16. 8. Wainwright O. Inside Beijing’s airpocalypse – a city made ‘almost uninhabitable’ by pollution. 2014. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/16/beijing-airpocalypse-city-almostuninhabitable-pollution-china. Accessed 01.11.16. 9. Jiang Q. Bicycle sharing in Beijing. Beijing: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); 2013. 10. Staff writer. A push for bicycles. 2011. Available from: http://www.scmp.com/article/735345/push-bicycles. Accessed 01.11.16. 11. CBS News. Beijing turns to bike shares to help cut pollution. 2016. Available from: http://www.cbsnews. com/news/china-beijing-bike-share-more-lanes-aim-to-reduce-congestion-pollution/. Accessed 01.11.16. 12. The League of American Bicyclists. Bicycle Friendly America Program. 2013. Available from: http://www. bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/index_about.php. Accessed 13.05.13. 13. SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research. Traffic education for children 4–12 years old. 2012. Available from: https://www.swov.nl/en/facts-figures/factsheet/traffic-education-children-4-12-years-old. Accessed 15.08.17. 14. Government of Western Australia Road Safety Commission. Might be a Mate. 2017. Available from: https:// www.rsc.wa.gov.au/Campaigns/Might-be-a-Mate-Feb-%E2%80%93-May-2017. Accessed 16.08.17. 15. Instituto Distrital de Recreacion y Deporte. La Ciclovia Bogotana y su historia. Available from: http://www. idrd.gov.co/sitio/idrd/node/1606. Accessed 16.08.17. 16. Christchurch City Council. Christchurch Cycle Guidelines. 2013. Available from: http://resources.ccc.govt. nz/files/CityLeisure/gettingaround/cycling/ChristchurchCycleDesignGuidelinesWEB.pdf. 17. New Zealand Transport Agency. Research report 449: Assessment of the type of cycling infrastructure required to attract new cyclists. 2011. Available from: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/ reports/449/docs/449.pdf.
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World Rates of cycling across the world vary widely. In countries like the United States, Australia, and Canada, bike trips make up only about 1% of total trips.1 On the other hand, in countries like Denmark and Australia, bike trips make up 18% and 26% of total trips, respectively.1 As discussed in detail throughout this book, bicycling has a number of benefits, not just to an individual’s health but to their social environment, environment, and economy. These benefits are summarized in Chapter 2. Some have identified potential risks associated with bicycling – primarily related to safety and cost (i.e., building infrastructure, purchasing equipment, building programs); however, the benefits have been shown on multiple occasions to outweigh any potential drawbacks of cycling (Chapter 2). It is, therefore, beneficial to attempt to improve rates of cycling around the globe. This concluding chapter draws on previous chapters to summarize how cycling can benefit communities and how it has been promoted in communities across the world.
Promoting Cycling in Cities of Different Sizes Cycling can be especially feasible in small cities due to smaller size, less traffic, less public transportation, and potentially closer and stronger social ties among residents as evidenced by U.S. cities like Davis, CA and Boulder, CO.2 As it relates to engineering, the physical characteristics of smaller cities may be better supportive of cycling. A smaller city generally means more of the city is accessible by bike and lower populations mean less traffic (although these are still dependent on the structure of the city and the number of residents). In fact, many smaller European cities have cycling levels that far exceed larger cities.2 Moreover, smaller cities may have stronger social ties leading to increased cycling. Residents in smaller cities may also have stronger ties to the government and may therefore have the opportunity to pass bike-friendly legislation with more ease. For more detail on policy and legislative approaches, refer Chapter 8. In large cities, on the other hand, longer trip distances due to greater land area, traffic, and network/connectedness can impact cycling rates. On the other hand, there are many more origins and destinations in larger cities, leading to potentially more riding. That said, bikes could help reduce traffic congestion and crowding of public transportation as well as help reduce pollution and noise pollution to create cleaner air and quieter streets. Furthermore, Bicycling for Transportation http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812642-4.00010-6
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210 Chapter 10 bicycling can lead to greater economic benefits in cities of all sizes. Building bicycle infrastructure is much less expensive than building roads and highways2; bikes are generally affordable for most people, and these bikes can provide forms of transportation to lower income populations. Certain small cities in particular are highly conducive to cycling (e.g., college campuses, town centers, towns with large employers), as these cities have a large number of origins and destinations for cycling. Institutional and organizational strategies for universities and employers are discussed in Chapter 5 and will be discussed more below. While it is potentially easier to implement some of these infrastructural changes in smaller cities as compared to larger cities, larger cities tend to have more funding and thus major endeavors may not be as feasible for implementation in smaller cities. Larger cities generally have greater diversity (i.e., income, race/ethnicity, education, lifestyle) among its residents.3,4 These larger cities also typically have younger constituents and, therefore, are on the forefront of economic and societal trends.3 Given these facts, one would expect larger cities to have much higher rates of cycling compared to smaller cities. As mentioned, larger cities have greater diversity as it relates to income levels – a major factor in determining who cycles and who does not. Automobile ownership is, unsurprisingly, associated with income. These lower levels of car ownership are associated with more cycling. Although a relationship exists, this is simply a correlation and not causation – it cannot be inferred if lower car ownership leads to more cycling or if more cycling leads to lower car ownership. Still, rates of cycling are higher among lower income individuals.5 Second, cycling is more popular among younger generations.1 When promoting cycling in cities of any size, the demographics of the constituents should be taken into account. Despite having the “right” population for cycling, other factors like land use patterns and transportation tend to deter high rates of cycling in larger cities.6 Larger cities typically have much more extensive public transportation than in smaller cities. In some cases, this may reduce the number of people who choose to ride a bike as they instead choose to take public transportation. However, if interventions and strategies are implemented correctly, the presence of extensive public transit systems opens the door for more opportunities for a stronger relationship between cyclists and transit thereby increasing cycling rates. In cities of all sizes there is usually some spatial variation of cycling with more cycling near city centers and more cycling in neighborhoods with mixed land use with a greater number of origins and destinations. Potentially despite the spatial make-up and land use of a city, it is possible that a city can be too big to support cycling. In extra-large cites (tens of millions of people) distances may be too far to bike, there may be far too much congestion and noise, and there may be more competition for other modes of travel (these cities generally favor
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World 211 walking and public transportation over cycling). In this circumstance, it may be beneficial to treat these extra-large cities as multiple smaller cities when improving infrastructure and implementing programming/intervention strategies. The first stop on our tour around the world takes us to Beijing, China. Beijing has taken great effort to promote cycling in their city through an extensive and widespread bikeshare program despite its extra-large size.
Bikeshare in Beijing, China. Sadhna Agrawal
Case Study 10.1: Beijing, Bikeshare, and Air Pollution – Beijing, China Air quality in Beijing has been a growing concern for several decades. In 1980, bicycle use in the capital city was abundant, with more than 60% or commuters using bicycles, but this has dropped to less than 12% in 2014, with the bulk of the trips now being taken by automobiles.7 Every day more than 5 million cars clog the roadways throughout the city, resulting in perpetual issues with air pollution that dissuades bikers from hitting the streets and causing many to wear air filtration masks.8 In 2012, the pilot phase of the Beijing municipal public bicycle sharing system was launched with 2000 bicycles and 63 stations.9 It has quickly expanded to have more than 50,000 bicycles and 1000 stations, with 3000–4000 daily rentals.7,9 The goals of the bike share were focused on
212 Chapter 10 decreasing traffic congestion and improving air quality but they have faced significant cultural challenges with trying to promote biking in a city where car ownership are status symbols. Nonetheless, the goal of 20%–23% of trips being taken by bike share remain for the city’s transportation officials.10 This goal would need to be approached concurrently with measures to reduce air pollution, including increased greenspace, improved water quality, and different building codes to improve air flow through tight urban spaces.11
The Five E’s The League of American Bicyclists and Safe Routes to School recognize organizations, schools, and communities for a commitment to bicycling evaluated on the “five E’s”: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning. Safe Routes to School recognizes a sixth E: equity. Throughout this chapter, each of the five E’s will be addressed in detail. A summary of the five E’s is presented in Box 10.1 and Table 5.1. BOX 10.1 The Five E’s12 • Engineering • Physical environment is a key factor in cycling • Bike networks should be well-connected • Feature should include bike lanes, quiet streets, shared use trails, and bike parking • Policies can ensure the infrastructure is developed and maintained • Education • Bicycle safety education should be a part of public education • Communities, businesses, and universities can offer programs and options for adults looking to improve their skills • Motorists and bicyclists should be made aware of their rights • Encouragement • Communities, businesses, and universities have a major role to play in promoting cycling • Bike-minded days like National Bike Month, Bike to Work Day can help with encouragement • Further options for promotion include producing community bike maps, bike-themed celebrations, and commuter challenges • Enforcement • Basic bike laws/regulations/policies ensure the safety of all road users, including bicyclists • Law enforcement officials need to understand the laws they should be enforcing • Bike advocacy groups and law enforcement should work together closely to maximize proper enforcement • Evaluation and Planning • Communities should have a master bike plan • Dedicated funding, bicycle advisory committees, and bike coordinators make this process easier • A number of evaluation techniques exist – each should be examined carefully to determine which one or which combination of them is most useful for your community
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Engineering Bike-friendly engineering (also referred to as the bike-friendly environment) provides safe and convenient places for bicyclists to ride and park. Given that the physical environment is a very important factor in determining if people within the community will bike, infrastructure must be welcoming and supportive of cyclists. A variety of micro-scale and macro-scale infrastructure features can support cycling. The techniques used may vary by the size of the city (i.e., small, large, extra-large), each of which come with their own benefits and challenges. As discussed in more detail in Chapter 7, micro-level engineering changes that can be implemented include travel-related infrastructure, end-of-trip facilities, and integration with transit. Research indicates positive associations with increased cycling and on-/off-street bicycle lanes, signed bicycle routes, bicycle boulevards, bike parking, workplace showers, bike racks on transit, bike parking at transit stops, and bikeshare systems. Additionally, shared lane markings, bicycle boxes, and bicycle-specific traffic signals have been associated with improved safety of cyclists. Crash and injury statistics vary widely by country and city (Chapter 2). Nevertheless, cities with the best bike-supportive infrastructure are safest for cyclists. Likewise, cities with the lowest are the most dangerous for cyclists. “Safer cycling encourages more cycling, and more cycling encourages greater safety”.2 Our second stop on our worldwide tour takes us to Delft in the Netherlands – a community that is widely known for its commitment to bike-friendly infrastructure and a bike-friendly culture. Case Study 10.2: Exemplifying a Bike-Friendly Community – Delft, Netherlands Delft is a town located in the western part of the Netherlands with a population of just under 100,000. The town is 15 km (∼9 miles) from Rotterdam and 10 km (∼6 miles) from The Hague, both of which are easily accessible by train. Within the town of Delft lies a university – Delft University of Technology that acts as a major employer in the town with 15,000 students. Rates of cycling in Delft are some of the highest in the world. The high rates of cycling across the community of Delft are a direct result of the community’s demographics, the topography/climate, and the government’s commitment to ensuring their community is bike-friendly. The population of Delft is highly educated with a large foreign community. The topography is flat with a moderate climate. Regulations prevent urban sprawl and the government began to actively encourage cycling in the 1980s. Between 1982 and 1987 the city constructed an extensive bicycle system comprised of three interconnected networks: (1) an urban network, (2) a district network, and (3) a neighborhood network. These provide an interconnected grid of bike facilities covering all of Delft and resulted in a 7% increase in number of bicycle trips from 1982 to 1987. It appears that this increase in riding came from residents who already cycled but began cycling more often and for longer distances. With that said, no further increases were seen after a 1993 analysis.
214 Chapter 10 The city of Delft is now heavily focused on improving infrastructure and parking. There is ample bike parking at the train station and traffic signals being reprogrammed to reduce waiting time for cyclists and intersections. The community is also investing in additional measures, including circulating information about parking and infrastructure, attempting to reduce bike theft, conducting mechanical checks of bikes at schools, improving bike routes to neighboring cities, and providing paid but subsidized guarded bike parking in the city center. The government has also introduced policies intended to deter driving. For example, entry to the city center for car was limited in 2000, posts prevent entry of most cars from the historical city center, and there are less than 4000 parking spaces – all of which are paid spots.
Education Proper education is required to provide potential riders of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds the necessary confidence and skills to ride a bike safely. Chapter 5 discussed institutional and organizational strategies to promote cycling and Chapter 6 discussed community level strategies to promote cycling. To promote and encourage cycling, many communities offer some sort of educational programming on bicycling skills and safety often tailored for different age groups.2 The content of these programs differs drastically by city, design, and curriculum. For example, in the Netherlands, a country noted for its extremely high rates of biking, children received traffic education in school from the age of four. These programs teach children the “practical skills” required to safely ride – allowing them to actually practice riding on the road.13 Contrarily, many other countries do not provide this practical training to their children. In the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand Safe Routes to School initiative are a major way to educate children and their parents on bicycling. Safe Routes to School programming is discussed in more detail in Chapters 5 and 8. Similar educational programming is also available outside of schools in communities, universities, and workplaces to both children and adults. Unfortunately, outside of Safe Routes to School, relatively few studies have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of educational programming. Therefore, it is difficult to identify which educational strategies are most effective. In addition to implementing campaigns to educate people on how to bike, awareness campaigns can also be used to make bicycling more popular. Our third stop on the globe takes us to Western Australia. In early 2017, Western Australia’s Road Safety Commission developed a campaign called “Might Be a Mate” (how very Australian of them) to bring awareness to cycling and cycling injury. For more detail on this campaign, see the case study 10.3. Case Study 10.3: Might be a Mate14 – Western Australia, Australia The Australian government and media were noticing an increasing trend of crashes among cyclists in Western Australia resulting in serious injury and death. In Australia, cyclists make up only 2% of road users but cycling fatalities make up over 3.5% of all fatalities. Thus, the government of Western Australia’s Road Safety Commission conceptualized a mass media education campaign aimed at increasing awareness of cyclist safety across the community.
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World 215 Key behavior messages of this campaign focused on practical issues like safe passing distances with an overarching safety message targeted at cyclists and motorists. But in general, the overall message of this campaign was safety and respect. The campaign was delivered via television, radio, and billboard advertisement. Campaign objectives were: • For motorists to understand the importance of maintaining a safe distance around cyclists • For cyclists to understand what they are responsible for when it comes to safe cycling behavior • To increase the awareness of rules for cycling/cyclists An offshoot of the Might be a Mate campaign was called “Could be Cometti”. Dennis Cometti is an Australian sports commentator and former player/coach in Australian football. This second phase of the campaign was aimed at recommending a one-meter (∼3.3 ft) passing distance and also utilized television, radio, and billboard advertising.
Encouragement As seen with engineering, cities with the best culture surrounding cycling are generally the safest. This culture is established via campaigns and programming intended to promote and encourage biking within a community. Creating a strong bike culture can only be accomplished with coordination and cooperation from various people throughout a community. At the community level bike coalitions and bike advocacy groups can do their part by promoting awareness for cycling. Communities can encourage and support bicycling via infrastructural (engineering) improvements and by putting on/sponsoring bike-related events like National Bike Month, Bike to Work Days, commuter challenges, community rides, bike-themed celebrations, bike-supportive policies/legislation, campaigns, and interventions (see Chapter 6 for more detail). Communities can also do their part by distributing maps of bike routes/trails and providing educational workshops to its residents as discussed above. Institutions and organizations also have a unique part to play in the encouragement of cycling (Chapter 5). Many workplaces and universities have the opportunity to provide the same encouragement opportunity as communities described previously. Institutions and universities can also incentivize cycling as a form of encouragement. In addition to institutional and community level bike encouragement, cyclists have an obligation to encourage cycling as well. Chapters 2 and 4 discussed the very important role social support and connectedness play in increasing rates of cycling. By shifting cultural norms at the community level cycling becomes both safer and more commonplace. Buy-in from the community, residents, institutions, and organizations within the community is crucial for an all-inclusive bike-friendly community. Some cities in particular have done an amazing job at taking a holistic approach to promoting cycling within their community. Our next stop around the world takes us to Bogotá, Colombia in South America, where Open Streets/Ciclovías were originated, a major step in the right direction as far as bicycle encouragement is concerned. Read more about it in the case study 10.4.
216 Chapter 10 Case Study 10.4: The Origin of Ciclovías (Open Streets)15 – Bogotá, Colombia Ciclovía is a Spanish term for “cycle-way” – a permanent bike path or closing of a street to automobiles for use by cyclists or pedestrians. Ciclovías were originally conceived in Bogotá, Colombia in 1974 by Jaime Ortiz Marino and fellow cyclists. Currently, Ciclovías in Bogotá are an interconnected circuit of more than 100 km (∼62 miles) spanning the city, which are open to cyclists and pedestrians and closed to cars on Sundays and from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm. The origins of these Ciclovías are an interesting part of history in the bicycling community. The “Mitín a favor de la Cicla” was an initiative of a non-profit organization called “Pro-Cicla” in collaboration with the Administration Department of Transit and Transport and served as the original Ciclovía. This event was attended by more than 5000 Bogotans who came out to protest the congestion and pollution caused by cars as well as the lack of recreational opportunities across the city. After the success of this original event, in June 1976 Bogotá’s Mayor Luis Prieto Ocampo signed a decree making Ciclovía an official program promoted and supported by the city government and Department of Transportation. This decree established four routes that were open to cyclists and pedestrians from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. After nearly two decades Ciclovías were losing their importance, with the Secretary of Transit and Transport referring to them as a “nuisance”. Signs for the Ciclovías were in bad condition and administrative support and programming was waning. Ciclovías had been reduced to less than 20 km (∼12 miles), almost exclusively in middle- and high-income neighborhoods, down from 100 km (∼62 miles) at its inception. But in 1995, under the direction/advisement of Guillermo Peñalosa and Professor Antanas Mockus, the care of Ciclovías transferred from the Secretary of Transit and Transport to the District Institute of Recreation and Sports (IDRD). The IDRD’s vision was to create “the largest temporary park in the world” that contributed to overall quality of life of which the main objectives were: • • • •
Free recreation for all inhabitants Contribute to the improvement of mental and physical health of everyone Improve the environment – less noise and better air quality A “mental change” understanding that streets are a public space that can have different uses at different times of the day and between days of the week • Social integration of citizens of all ages and socioeconomic status • To create a place where all citizens are treated “like equals” From 1995 to 2000, Mockus and Peñalosa oversaw the “re-birth” of the Ciclovía. The cycleways increased from 20 km (∼12 miles) to 121 km (∼75 miles) and now includes lowerincome neighborhoods. The budget increased 10-fold and participation skyrocketed to 1.5 million participants on Sundays and holidays. Hours were extended from 9:00 am–11:00 am to 7:00 am–2:00 pm. An administrative system was created part of which established guardians of the path made up of volunteers and police officers and advertising campaigns were created. As part of the rebirth of the Ciclovía, Bogotá also created “ciclorutas” which are bikeways different from Ciclovías. Informal commerce organized along the Ciclovías, better signage was added, and private sponsorships were obtained. In December 1999, a nocturnal path was created of which more than 3 million people used. Since the early 2000s, Ciclovías are holding strong in Bogotá and variations are now seen across the world in Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, and the United States.
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Enforcement A variety of rules and regulations are in place to ensure safe roads for all users, including cyclists. Policies exist to protect cyclists at all levels of government. These polices/laws can be broken down into four major categories: traffic laws for bicyclists, traffic laws for motorists that affect cyclists, bike plans, and Safe Routes to School initiatives. Chapter 8 hits on the issues many communities have with enforcement of existing rules and regulations that promote and encourage biking. Despite the presence of these policies, many communities have difficulty enforcing them for one reason or another. It is of particular importance that law enforcement officials understand these laws (particularly the traffic laws) to be able to properly, justly, and equitably enforce them. Therefore, a strong positive relationship between the bicycling community and law enforcement is imperative. One way this can be accomplished is by having a law enforcement official serve on a community bicycle advisory committee. Another potential way to accomplish this cohesion is by having more police officers on bikes themselves.
Evaluation and Planning To ensure all road users can travel both safely and conveniently, communities should develop written bike plans. Communities that are more bike-friendly spend more time in the planning process compared to communities that are less bike-friendly. Good plans can take different forms and are implemented at various levels of government and with different amounts of community involvement. Master bike plans often include some set of measurable goals (e.g., increase safe bicycling use). This is best accomplished with a dedicated funding, Bicycle Program Coordinators, and bicycle advisory committees. To achieve these goals, it is essential that communities understand the differing techniques that can be used in the evaluation process. Chapter 3 details the techniques that can be used to measure bicycling within the community. These include objective techniques (e.g., standardized protocols, environmental audits, manual counting, portable counters, geographic information systems, global positioning systems, Bluetooth, webcams/crowdsourcing, automated video image processing, bike share systems, permanent counters) and subjective techniques (e.g., national surveillance, targeted surveys, intercept surveys, bikeshare surveying).
A Broad Perspective on Bicycle Friendliness Clearly, not all communities can excel in all areas of bicycle friendliness. For communities working toward their goal of supporting bicycling, it is important to take a comprehensive multi-level approach. Any single category alone is not enough to support the needs of cyclists, they need proper engineering and support and encouragement from many directions in order to make bicycling for transportation a regular choice. The case studies included in this chapter from around the globe have highlighted how community practitioners have been successful in creating a safe environment and bicycling culture that results in greater rates of travel by bicycle. Our final stop around the world takes us to Christchurch, New Zealand. This community undertook a complete overhaul of what biking looked like within the community.
218 Chapter 10 Case Study 10.5: A Chance to Start Over with Cycling: Christchurch, New Zealand Author: Oliver Wilson Christchurch, New Zealand, the largest city on the western shores of the South Island, experienced a devastating earthquake in 2011, killing hundreds of people and levelling thousands of buildings in the community. The Christchurch City Council (CCC) recognized the unique opportunity following the Canterbury earthquakes to develop the city into a ‘cycle city’ through the establishment of a safe and connected cycle network. The CCC prioritized investment in an extensive network of cycle-ways and programs to encourage cycling as a part of every travel and activity, which was seen as crucial to Christchurch’s recovery.16 During transport infrastructure reconstruction, a number of cycle-way design features have been, and continue to be, introduced or improved. These design features include shared paths, bus stop by-passes, painted separated cycle lanes, vertical edge markers, and curb separated cycle-ways. Shared paths achieve separation between cyclists and pedestrians through landscaping or contrasting surface textures to separate cycle and pedestrian paths, as well as good on path markings. Cycle-way by-passes around high frequency bus routes (where buses run every 10– 15 min during peak times) provide cyclists with both priority and increased safety. Photo 10.2 demonstrates the cycle-way by-passing a bus stop via the footpath where the markings and differing textures (asphalt vs. paving) differentiate between pedestrian and cyclist areas of the foot path.
Cycle-way Bus Stop By-pass. Another change was the improvement in the quality and number of painted separated cycle-ways. Green became the specified color of choice in NZ due to its association with environmental friendliness and safety as opposed to the previously incumbent red which cyclists associated with danger and/or stop.17 Painted separated cycle-ways are now present at most major intersections as well as many tight corners where vertical edge markers (such as uprights), raised delineators (such as rumble strips or small curbs), or painted chevrons
Bringing it all Together: Bicycling Around the World 219 provide temporary physical separation from vehicles. A painted separated cycle-way along with upright vertical edge markers are shown in Photo 10.3.
Painted Separated Cycle-way and Upright Vertical Edge Markers. Curb-separated cycle-ways achieve separation between cyclists and traffic with either on street parking or a curb with gaps to allow drainage. Photo 10.4 provides an example of a curbseparated cycle-way under construction, where the cycle lane will be separated from the traffic by a raised garden leaving the footpath for pedestrians only.
Curb-separated Cycle-way Under Construction.
220 Chapter 10 Dedicated signals have also been introduced at signalized cyclist/pedestrian road crossings. Photo 10.5 shows such a crossing where the footpath has been separated into lanes for cyclists and pedestrians, with each having their own button that allow a shorter cycle phase to run separately from the pedestrian signal phase, enabling improved traffic capacity which can improve capacity.
Dedicated Signal Crossing.
The city of Christchurch was able to include many of the design principles of a bicycle friendly community and include them as a part of their efforts to rebuild their community with a renewed focused on health, wellness and sustainability.
Conclusions While rates of cycling are indeed increasing, the current state of the world health-wise, socially, environmentally, and economically may be declining faster. Evidence indicates widespread benefits of cycling for health, the social environment, the physical environment, and the economy. While cycling is not the perfect fix, it may be a very important factor in improving the current state of the world. To ensure this occurs, bicycle advocates like us need to do our part to encourage and support cycling domestically and around the world. As exhibited by the case studies presented throughout this chapter and this book, promoting cycling is no easy feat but is certainly accomplishable. We, the authors of this book, hope that by reading this book you have gained a new perspective on why bicycling is important and what you can do to engineer, educate, encourage, enforce, and evaluate cycling in your community!
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References 1. Bassett Jr DR, Pucher J, Buehler R, Thompson DL, Crouter SE. Walking, cycling, and obesity rates in Europe, North America, and Australia. J Phys Act Health 2008;5(6):795–814. 2. Pucher J, Buehler R. City cycling. MIT Press; 2012. 3. Berube A, Frey WH, Friedhoff A, et al. State of metropolitan America: on the front lines of demographic transformation. 4. Crouch C. Competitive cities in the global economy. 5. McDonald NC. Critical factors for active transportation to school among low-income and minority students. Evidence from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey. Am J Prev Med 2008;34(4):341–4. 6. Heinen E, Van Wee B, Maat K. Commuting by bicycle: an overview of the literature. Transport Rev 2010;30(1):59–96. 7. Fong W. The (D)evolution of bicyling and bike share in China and Beijing. 2013. Available from: http:// bikeshare.com/2013/11/can-bike-share-make-beijing-part-of-the-kingdom-of-bicyclesagain/. Accessed 01.11.16. 8. Wainwright O. Inside Beijing’s airpocalypse – a city made ‘almost uninhabitable’ by pollution. 2014. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/16/beijing-airpocalypse-city-almostuninhabitable-pollution-china. Accessed 01.11.16. 9. Jiang Q. Bicycle sharing in Beijing. Beijing: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); 2013. 10. Staff writer. A push for bicycles. 2011. Available from: http://www.scmp.com/article/735345/push-bicycles. Accessed 01.11.16. 11. CBS News. Beijing turns to bike shares to help cut pollution. 2016. Available from: http://www.cbsnews. com/news/china-beijing-bike-share-more-lanes-aim-to-reduce-congestion-pollution/. Accessed 01.11.16. 12. The League of American Bicyclists. Bicycle Friendly America Program. 2013. Available from: http://www. bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/index_about.php. Accessed 13.05.13. 13. SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research. Traffic education for children 4–12 years old. 2012. Available from: https://www.swov.nl/en/facts-figures/factsheet/traffic-education-children-4-12-years-old. Accessed 15.08.17. 14. Government of Western Australia Road Safety Commission. Might be a Mate. 2017. Available from: https:// www.rsc.wa.gov.au/Campaigns/Might-be-a-Mate-Feb-%E2%80%93-May-2017. Accessed 16.08.17. 15. Instituto Distrital de Recreacion y Deporte. La Ciclovia Bogotana y su historia. Available from: http://www. idrd.gov.co/sitio/idrd/node/1606. Accessed 16.08.17. 16. Christchurch City Council. Christchurch Cycle Guidelines. 2013. Available from: http://resources.ccc.govt. nz/files/CityLeisure/gettingaround/cycling/ChristchurchCycleDesignGuidelinesWEB.pdf. 17. New Zealand Transport Agency. Research report 449: Assessment of the type of cycling infrastructure required to attract new cyclists. 2011. Available from: http://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/ reports/449/docs/449.pdf.