Economic impacts on local businesses of investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure: a review of the evidence

Abstract

Local officials in North America frequently face opposition to new or expanded bicycle or pedestrian facilities. The most vocal opponents are usually motorists and local business owners who fear that the removal of or reductions in vehicular parking or travel lanes will reduce patronage from motorists and that any increased patronage from pedestrians or cyclists will not offset the lost revenues. A lack of direct evidence on the economic impacts of facilities on local businesses has made it difficult to support or debunk such fears. A lack of quantitative evidence in particular has prevented the incorporation of such impacts into cost-benefit analyses. The issue has received enough attention from researchers in recent years that a review of the evidence is now warranted. We reviewed the relevant literature and identified 23 studies, focusing on the US and Canada, that either (1) quantified and compared consumer spending between active travellers and automobile users (n = 8), or (2) quantified an economic impact to local businesses following the installation of bicycle or pedestrian facilities (n = 15). Taken together, the studies indicate that creating or improving active travel facilities generally has positive or non-significant economic impacts on retail and food service businesses abutting or within a short distance of the facilities, though bicycle facilities might have negative economic effects on auto-centric businesses. The results are similar regardless of whether vehicular parking or travel lanes are removed or reduced to make room for the active travel facilities. The studies also highlight best practices for designing future research. Ten of the 15 studies that quantified an economic impact to local businesses used both before-and-after data and comparison sites or other statistical controls for variables unrelated to the active travel facility "treatment;" six of those used statistical testing.

Measuring Connectivity of Pedestrian Street Networks in the Built Environment for Walking: A Space-Syntax Approach

“…Walkable routes are a necessity to support these functions since a customer generally arrives at a shop on foot. Moreover, Volker and Handy [ 89 ] provide a comprehensive review of 23 studies which suggests a positive economic impact on retail and food businesses due to investments in pedestrian infrastructures. Augmenting the walking infrastructure (including the provision of sidewalks or improving the existing walking condition) may help in boosting the sales of commercial establishments, thereby improving the local economy [ 90 , 91 ].…”

Perceived Safety and Security Barriers to Walking and Bicycling: Insights from Milwaukee

“…For example, speeding can be mitigated by narrowing roadways and applying other traffic calming measures ( 37 ). Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure may also support local businesses and neighborhood reinvestment ( 38 ). Adequate street lighting improves perceptions of personal security among pedestrians and may also deter criminal activity ( 39 ).…”

Cycling Tourism Destination Development From Local Stakeholders’ Perspective

“…Residents' support for sport tourism is positively affected by place image and knowledge about tourism, and their support is stronger if their income comes from tourism (Chang, Choong and Ng, 2020). In general, investments in bicycle facilities are mostly positive for local businesses (Volker and Handy, 2021) but cycling tourism impacts on the economy (e.g. Weed et al, 2014;Buning, Cole and McNamee, 2016;Preez and Lee, 2016;Kaya and Erdoğan, 2020) and the services sector (Fahrradportal, 2017) go beyond the local level (Adventure Cycling Association, n.d.; The Outdoor Industry Association, 2018).…”

“…Vožnja biciklom smatra se zdravom (Celis-Morales et al, 2017;European Cyclists' Federation, 2018), a omogućava i održavanje distance uz istovremeno ispunjavanje minimalnih dnevnih potreba za fizičkom aktivnošću (WHO, 2021) prilikom boravka na otvorenom -pod uvjetom da to dostupne površine omogućavaju (Nurse i Dunning, 2020). Za razliku od brojnih negativnih učinaka na urbani način života, pandemija je otkrila i latentnu potražnju za kretanjem biciklom te je utjecala na rast udjela biciklističkog prijevoza u funkcio nalnom kretanju, kao i na poveća-2012; Chen and Chen, 2013;Lamont and Jenkins, 2013;Piket, Eijgelaar and Peeters, 2013;Weed et al, 2014;Gazzola et al, 2018;Soyalp, 2018;Di Giacobe, Di Ludovico and D'Ovidio, 2020;Kaya and Erdoğan, 2020;Lin et al, 2020;Lőrincz, Banász and Csapó, 2020;Volker and Handy, 2021), but omit to include the stakeholders' perspective (unlike, e.g. Pavluković, Nikić and Stankov, 2020;Brščić, Lovrečić and Šugar, 2021), which is a gap this paper seeks to bridge.…”