How Equitable Are the Distributions of the Physical Activity and Accessibility Benefits of Bicycle Infrastructure?

Abstract BackgroundCycling for transport provides many health and social benefits – including physical activity and independent access to jobs, education, social opportunities, health care and other services (accessibility). However, inequalities exist for some population groups in the opportunity to reach everyday destinations, and public transport stops, by bicycle – owing in part to their greater aversion to riding in amongst motor vehicle traffic. Health equity can therefore be improved by providing separated cycleway networks that give people the opportunity to access places by bicycle using traffic-free routes. The aim of this study was to assess the health equity benefits of two bicycle infrastructure development scenarios – a single cycleway, and a complete network of cycleways – by examining the distribution of physical activity and accessibility benefits across gender, age and income groups.MethodsTravel survey data collected from residents in Sydney (Australia) were used to train a predictive transport mode choice model, which was then used to forecast the impact of the two scenarios on transport mode choice, physical activity and accessibility. Accessibility was measured using a utility-based accessibility measure derived from the mode choice model. The distribution of forecast physical activity and accessibility benefits was then calculated across gender, age and income groups.ResultsThe modelled physical activity and accessibility measures improve in both intervention scenarios. However, in the single cycleway scenario, the benefits are greatest for the male, high-income and older age groups. In the complete network scenario, the benefits are more equally distributed. Forecast increases in cycling time are largely offset by decreases in walking time – though the latter is typically low-intensity physical activity, which confers a lesser health benefit than moderate-intensity cycling.ConclusionsSeparated cycleway infrastructure can be used to improve health equity by providing greater opportunities for transport cycling in population groups more averse to riding amongst motor vehicle traffic. Disparities in the opportunity to access services and economic/social activities by bicycle – and incorporate more physical activity into everyday travel – could be addressed with connected, traffic-free cycleway networks that cater to people of all genders, ages and incomes.

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How equitable are the distributions of the physical activity and accessibility benefits of bicycle infrastructure?

International Journal for Equity in Health ◽

10.1186/s12939-021-01543-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Christopher Standen ◽

Melanie Crane ◽

Stephen Greaves ◽

Andrew T. Collins ◽

Chris Rissel

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Health Equity ◽

Motor Vehicle ◽

Choice Model ◽

Mode Choice ◽

Population Groups ◽

Transport Mode ◽

Income Groups ◽

Mode Choice Model ◽

Bicycle Infrastructure

Abstract Background Cycling for transport provides many health and social benefits – including physical activity and independent access to jobs, education, social opportunities, health care and other services (accessibility). However, some population groups have less opportunity to reach everyday destinations, and public transport stops, by bicycle – owing in part to their greater aversion to riding amongst motor vehicle traffic. Health equity can therefore be improved by providing separated cycleway networks that give more people the opportunity to access places by bicycle using traffic-free routes. The aim of this study was to assess the health equity benefits of two bicycle infrastructure development scenarios – a single cycleway, and a complete network of cycleways – by examining the distributions of physical activity and accessibility benefits across gender, age and income groups. Methods Travel survey data collected from residents in Sydney (Australia) were used to train a predictive transport mode choice model, which was then used to forecast the impact of the two intervention scenarios on transport mode choice, physical activity and accessibility. The latter was measured using a utility-based measure derived from the mode choice model. The distributions of the forecast physical activity and accessibility benefits were then calculated across gender, age and income groups. Results The modelled physical activity and accessibility measures improve in both intervention scenarios. However, in the single cycleway scenario, the benefits are greatest for the male, high-income and older age groups. In the complete network scenario, the benefits are more equally distributed. Forecast increases in cycling time are largely offset by decreases in walking time – though the latter is typically low-intensity physical activity, which confers a lesser health benefit than moderate-intensity cycling. Conclusions Separated cycleway infrastructure can be used to improve health equity by providing greater opportunities for transport cycling in population groups more averse to riding amongst motor vehicle traffic. Disparities in the opportunity to access services and economic/social activities by bicycle – and incorporate more physical activity into everyday travel – could be addressed with connected, traffic-free cycleway networks that cater to people of all genders, ages and incomes.

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A two-stage residential location and transport mode choice model with exposure to traffic-induced air pollution

10.26686/wgtn.14587113.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mirjam Schindler ◽

JYT Wang ◽

RD Connors

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Choice Model ◽

Mode Choice ◽

Residential Location ◽

Health Concern ◽

Spatially Explicit ◽

Population Exposure ◽

Population Densities ◽

Transport Mode ◽

Mode Choice Model

Air pollution is an increasing concern to urban residents. In response, residents are beginning to adapt their travel behaviour and to consider local air quality when choosing a home. We study implications of such behaviour for the morphology of cities and population exposure to traffic-induced air pollution. To do so, we propose a spatially explicit and integrated residential location and transport mode choice model for a city with traffic-induced air pollution. Intra-urban spatial patterns of population densities, transport mode choices, and resulting population exposure are analysed for urban settings of varying levels of health concern and air pollution information available to residents. Numerical analysis of the feedback between residential location choice and transport mode choice, and between residents' choices and the subsequent potential impact on their own health suggests that increased availability of information on spatially variable traffic-induced health concerns shifts population towards suburban areas with availability of public transport. Thus, health benefits result from reduced population densities close to urban centres in this context. To mitigate population exposure, our work highlights the need for spatially explicit information on peoples' air pollution concerns and, on this basis, spatially differentiated integrated land use and transport measures.

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