Presented at The Scottish Transport Applications & Research (STAR) Conference, 21 May 2014 www.starconference.org.uk

1. Institute for Transport Studies
FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT
Cycle to Work scheme – Weekend
Warriors or Daily Commuters?
Scottish Transport Applications & Research Conference
Wednesday 21 May 2014
Anne Clarke James Laird Jeremy Shires
anne.clarke@Arup.com j.j.laird@its.leeds.ac.uk j.d.shires@its.leeds.ac.uk

2. UK cycling context
UK cycling: a journey
through time and space…
2% of trips made by bike in the UK in
2008 (and 2012)
Bicycle usage fell from over 14 billion
miles annually in 1949 to around 3
billion miles annually by the 1970s
and then remained fairly static
CAR
USE
BIKE
USE

3. How the C2W scheme works
• Salary sacrifice
• 12-18 months repayment
• Payments deducted before tax and
National Insurance
• Final payment to transfer ownership
• 25% saving for basic rate tax payers
• >50% use should be for commuting

4. About the data
• York and Leeds
• 6 public sector employers (2 in York, 4 in Leeds)
• Online survey (35 questions)
• Survey dates: June/July 2013
• 254 responses
• Respondents accessed the scheme ~2010-2012

5. Who uses the scheme?
N=254
23%
30%
47%
Cycle to Work scheme users
Did not own a bike
already
Owned a bike but
cycled
infrequently/ never
Owned a bike and
cycled regularly
53% of respondents reported no weekly cycling
before using the scheme

6. Impacts – propensity to cycle
92% of respondents cycled to work after using the scheme
96% of respondents cycled weekly (all trip purposes)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
49%
35%
8%
8%
Proportion of scheme users who cycled to work at
different frequencies after using the scheme
Not cycling to work
Less than 2 days per
week
2+ days per week
Every day

7. Impacts – propensity to cycle
78%
11%
3.5%
8%
Do you use the bike purchased through
the Cycle to Work scheme to cycle to
work?
Yes
Yes, with another means of transport
I use a different bike to commute
I don't cycle to work
Note: figures are subject to rounding

8. Impacts – propensity to cycle
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Before
After
*
*The before information for leisure cycling is an estimate

9. Impacts – car mileage reduction
19%
Existing cyclists
59%
Those who owned
a bike but did no
cycling
51%
Those who did
not own a bike
Average mileage reduction:
35 miles per week = 1,820 miles per year
(22% of estimated average car mileage
per annum)*
This ranged from a few miles to over 100 miles per week
for individual respondents
*DfT (2013). Statistical Release – National Travel Survey: 2012

10. Impacts – health
27% increase in the number of scheme
users who are sufficiently active
(from 70% of all users to 89% of all users)

11. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme
CBA does not capture the main benefit of the scheme to
the user:
• A change to the purchase cost of a bicycle
Financial analysis plugs this gap
CBA includes:
• Changes in external costs
• The resource costs of the initiative
• Change to use cost through a policy initiative (none for C2W)
Approach:
Cost benefit analysis + financial analysis

12. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – financial analysis
(£000’s for all respondents over a ten-year appraisal period)
Employees:
£35 income tax/NI savings
£252 vehicle operating cost
savings
£33 car sales
£300 fare savings
-£135 bike purchases
-£455 maintenance costs
£49 benefit overall
Employers:
£20 NI savings
-£17 opportunity cost of loan
£3 benefit overall
Government:
-£55 income tax/NI losses
-£72 fuel duty losses
-£19 vehicle excise duty
losses
£60 extra VAT revenue
-£86 loss overall

13. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – financial analysis
Public transport providers:
-£300 fare revenue losses
-£300 loss overall
Car industry:
-£180 vehicle maintenance sales
-£33 car sales
-£213 loss overall
Cycle to work scheme providers:
£21 commission and final market value
£21 benefit overall
Cycle industry:
£114 bike sales (minus commission fee)
£455 bike maintenance sales
£569 benefit overall
(£000’s for all respondents over a ten-year appraisal period)

14. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – financial analysis
Winners and Losers
Cycle industry £569 benefit
Employees £49 benefit
Public transport providers £300 loss
Car industry £213 loss
Employers £3 benefit
Cycle to work scheme providers £21 benefit
Government £86 loss
(£000’s for all respondents over a ten-year appraisal period)

15. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – cost benefit analysis
Benefits
£485 in physical fitness benefits (society)
£253 in decongestion benefits (economy)
£41 in absenteeism benefits (economy)
£23 in National Insurance savings (economy)
£14 in greenhouse gases (environmental)
~£5 from other marginal external costs (noise, local air quality, infrastructure)
Disbenefits
£385 in fare revenue losses (economy)
£61 in income tax and National Insurance losses (public accounts)
£23 in Vehicle Excise Duty (public accounts)
£21 in accidents (safety)
£14 in indirect taxation (fuel duty and VAT)
(£000’s for all respondents over a ten-year appraisal period)

16. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – cost benefit analysis
Cost benefit analysis summary
BCR is 3.5: The scheme represents high value
for money for government

17. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – discussion of findings
Could funding be better spent elsewhere?
High level of cycle ‘funding’ through the scheme
Would alternatives be better?
Does not specifically target those who most need to become more
active
Does activity substitution need to be accounted for
in appraisal of active travel schemes?
Results showed many scheme users replaced other physical activity
with cycling

18. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme – summary and conclusions
The C2W scheme significantly increases cycling levels
Overall impact is reduced by high uptake from existing
cyclists (around half of users)
Users are ‘weekend warriors’ and ‘daily [or less frequent]
commuters’
The C2W scheme also encourages cycling for other trip
purposes
Overall represents good value for money for government

19. References
Statistics
Slide 2
Goodwin, P. 2013. Get Britain Cycling: Report from the Enquiry and DfT. 2013. National Travel Survey
2012
Keep, M. 2013. Road cycling: statistics, Standard Note SN/SG/06224, House of Commons Library
Pictures
• http://www.10portmansquare.com/10portmansquare.html
• http://brompton.com/pages/9035
• http://dclibrary.org/node/30577
• http://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2014/02/new-guidelines-double-dose-recommended-physical-activity-adults
• http://www.psdgraphics.com/3d/gold-pound-symbol/
• http://www.myriadonline.co.uk/products.php?id=3806&name=Weighing%20Scales%20with%20Brass%20Weights
• http://www.teach-ict.com/as_a2_ict_new/ocr/A2_G063/332_designing_systems/perception/miniweb/pg4.htm
• http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/Why-Facebooks-NewGen-Data-Center-Leads-by-Example-692707/
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/10116733/Child-obesity-hospital-admissions-quadruple.html
• http://www.cityjoggingtours.co.uk/our-jogging-tours.html
• http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/jul/30/hmrc-treasury-select-committee
• http://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/bicycle-travel-awards/

20. Appraising the Cycle to Work
scheme
Questions
Contact details: anne.clarke@arup.com