Cycling faster than cars for short trips

Did you know?? Cycling is......

Save Time Figure 2- Gosford & Woy Woy Station “5km/15min Cycling Catchment Areas” ,[object Object],When travel time is measured from “door to door” for short-distance trips (up to 5 Km) on a congested urban road network (The Australian National Cycling Strategy 2005-2011) When travel time is measured from door to door for short-distance trips up to 5 km long on a congested urban road network, bicycles can generally be faster than any other mode of travel. 5 km Figure 1 - Journey time against Distance by Mode in the Urban Environment

Get Healthy ,[object Object],control your weight reduce your risk of chronic disease. reduce stress and depression. improve concentration and sleep. tone and strengthen muscles. improve energy levels. Figure 3: Schematic illustration depicting the relationships between physical activity and health benefit. The importance of physical activity and cycling to health Adapted from Bouchard, 2001 “every adult should accumulate half an hour of moderate-intensity physical activity on at least 5 days per week”3(Commonwealth Health National PA guidelines)

Save Money It makes good economic sense to encourage more cycling. ,[object Object],Reductions in the cost of providing parking (It costs about $45,000 and 30m2 to provide “1 car park”. Based on Woy Woy commuter car park) Transport makes up 16% of the average Australian family’s budget, a similar proportion to housing and food costs5. Running an average car in NSW costs between $7,500 and $16,800 a year6. (a bike costs around 1% of that amount. 42.4 % of Gosford households owns 2 or more vehicles, often used to park at commuter car parks) Table 1- Bike Versus Car (source: Cycling Promotion Fund CYCLING FACT SHEET 05) Time and Cost Comparison: 8 km Commute to CBD6,7,8,9 By cycling, save at least $56.10 and 4.8 hours per week – even more if parking costs and current fuel prices are considered.

Save the Environment ,[object Object],About half of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by an average Australian family are from transport. In urban areas motor vehicles are the main source of air pollution10 Using bicycles to replace short car trips… means: Less energy, less pollution, and less space for cars and roads…. A city…that is designed for higher levels of cycling can be cleaner… less polluting… and a more pleasant place to live. Figure - Greenhouse gas emissions from different forms of transport 11

[object Object],Motor vehicles are the most significant Source of harm in the transport system, and pedestrians and cyclists bear a disproportionate burden of traffic risk. Road safety is increased by shifting people out of cars and promoting cycling, walking and public transport. Be Safe Figure 6: Cycling has lower injury rates than most other forms of sport, exercise and active recreations12

References 1. Dekoster, J. Schollaert, U. 2000, Cycling: The Way Ahead for Towns and Cities, European Commission, Directorate-General for the Environment 2. World Health Organisation, 2000, Transport, Environment and Health, RegionalOffice for Europa, Copenhagen, Denmark, http://www.euro.who.int/document/e72015.pdf, accessed 7/02/08 3. Commonwealth Health National PA guidelines,1999; United States Surgeon General, 1996; Haskell et al, 2007 4. Shayler, M. Fergusson, M. & Rowell, A. (1993) Costing the Beneﬁts: The Value of Cycling 5. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006, Household Expenditure Survey 2003-04,6530.0, Australian Government, Table 1, http://abs.gov.au, accessed 24/02/2008 6. NRMA 2007 dollars, five-year whole-of-cost for average kilometres of new car in each class, including fuel, maintenance, insurance, licensing, registration, depreciation and opportunity costs. NRMA Motoring + Services, 2007, Private Whole of Life Vehicle Operating Costs Report, Available: http://www.mynrma.com.au/cps/rde/xbcr/mynrma/Private_Costs_Report_Summary.pdf?cpssessionid=SID-3F5768E2-7F294FFA Accessed 24.02.2008 7. Davies, R. 2007, Implementing the Main Roads Cycling Policy, Main Roads Technical Forum Paper, Brisbane, Department of Main Roads, p6. 8 Arundell, L., 2007, The Cost of Cycling presentation at the 2007 Thinking on 2Wheels conference, University of SA 9. Assumptions made in calculating table: " Commute is an 8 km trip, time by car = 27.5 minutes, time by bike = 26.4 minutes (ref 19 above). Assume 10 trips per week. " Gym commute: Assume additional 15 minutes commuting time. " Gym session: Assume four 60 minute sessions (4 hours of exercise per week) plus 20 minutes change and shower time. The bike exercise time is 4.4 hours. " Car costs based on NRMA 2007 data (ref 3 above). Note they exclude parking costs and petrol prices in June 2008 are much higher. " Bike costs based on data in ref 20 above. Calculations assume journey to work cycling is 2/3 of all cycling trips. 10. Australian Greenhouse Office / CSIRO, National Kilowatt Count of Household Energy Use, 2002 11 . Source: Australian Greenhouse Office, 2006 12. Research conducted by the British Medical Association found that the health risks of inactivity are 20 times greater than the health risks posed bya potential cycling accident (British Medical Association, 1992)

Cycling faster than cars for short trips

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