New walking and cycling infrastructure and modal shift in the UK: A quasi-experimental panel study

Abstract

Heavy dependency on car use leads to traffic congestion, pollution, and physical inactivity, which impose high direct and indirect costs on society. Promoting walking and cycling has been recognised as one of the means of mitigating such negative effects. Various approaches have been taken to enhance walking and cycling levels and to reduce the use of automobiles. This paper examines the effectiveness of infrastructure interventions in promoting walking and cycling for transport. Two related sets of panel data, covering elapsed time periods of one and two years, were analysed to track changes in travel behaviour following provision of new walking and cycling infrastructure so that modal shift from private car use to walking and cycling can be investigated. Two types of exposure measures were tested: distance from the infrastructure (a measure of potential usage), and actual usage of the infrastructure. Only the latter measure was statistically significantly associated with modal shift. This in turn suggested that infrastructure provision was not a sufficient condition for modal shift, but may have been a necessary condition. Along with the use of new infrastructure, the loss of employment, higher education, being male and being part of the ethnic majority were consistently found to be significantly and positively associated with modal shift towards walking and cycling. The findings of this study support the construction of walking and cycling routes, but also suggest that such infrastructure alone may not be enough to promote active travel.

Environmental Effects of Electromobility in a Sustainable Urban Public Transport

“…With reference to the above and having made an analysis of the solutions described in literature regarding sustainable transport systems in urban areas it is worth indicating the following concepts: car-free zones, low emission zones (LOZs) [26,27], congestion charging [28], electric vehicles (EVs), hydrogen vehicles (HVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) [29,30], bike-sharing [31,32], car-sharing, carpooling, Park&Ride, Bike&Ride, Kiss&Ride [33][34][35], bus rapid transit (BRT), dedicated lanes for buses [36,37], priority for buses [38] and trams, free fare public transport (FFPT) [39], paid parking zones [40], promotion of walking and cycling [41,42], powered two-wheelers (PTWs) [43], electric powered two-wheelers (ePTWs) [44], electric freight vehicles (EFVs), light electric freight vehicles (LEFVs) [45][46][47], cargo cycles [48,49], loading/unloading bays [50][51][52], cargo consolidation centers (CCCs) [53], freight consolidation centers (FCCs) [54,55], urban consolidation centers (UCCs) [56], underground logistics system (ULS) [57,58], cargo hitching [59,60], cargo drones [61,62], light rail transit (LRT), light rail system (LRS) [63][64]…”

Trialing a Road Lane to Bicycle Path Redesign—Changes in Travel Behavior with a Focus on Users’ Route and Mode Choice

“…However, it was noted that their conclusions are context specific, as Stockholm, where the study was performed, has a well-functioning public transport system. Evidence of the low cross-elasticity between car and bicycle use was also provided by Song et al [37], who investigated the modal shift resulting from bicycle infrastructure implementation in three cities in the UK using a quasi-experiment panel study. They found that about 20% of the respondents had switched from driving to active transport modes, but also that a similar percentage had done the inverse shift.…”

Obesity‐related health impacts of active transport policies in Australia – a policy review and health impact modelling study

“…Supportive infrastructure will be an important component of improving AT prevalence, but it should be noted that other approaches to intervention will also be required. A recent study in the UK found that infrastructure provision may be a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for encouraging modal shift 49 . Changing travel behaviours is a complex undertaking and a variety of supportive measures spanning environmental, economic, legal, social, cultural and educational approaches will likely be required.…”