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New Zealand study finds investing in cycling and walking reduces car use and improves air quality

Researchers estimate 1 per cent fall in emissions but say impact could be higher due to substitution shorter trips that cause more pollution

A new study from New Zealand has shown that investment in facilities for cyclists and pedestrians leads to lower levels of car use and reduces carbon emissions.

The study is claimed to be the first conducted worldwide to have established a link between building cycling and walking infrastructure and lower levels of air pollution.

It’s a subject however we have visited regularly here on road.cc – for example, research published earlier this year found that children in London’s first ‘Mini Holland’ borough, Waltham Forest, will enjoy greater life expectancy due to efforts to promote cycling and walking and reduce car use.

The New Zealand study was carried out by researchers from Victoria University and the University of Otago, Wellington, reports the Otago Daily Times.

They analysed the effect of cycle paths and pedestrian walkways installed in 2011 in New Plymouth and Hastings.

They discovered that during the following three years, total kilometres travelled fell by 1.6 per cent and carbon emissions by 1 per cent.

Associate Professor Michael Keall, the lead author of the study, said: "This is good news for our agenda to reduce carbon emissions, which is essential to meet our international targets and of course to contribute to stabilising the climate.”

According to co-author Dr Caroline Shaw, the actual reduction in carbon emissions is likely to be higher than that 1 per cent figure.

She explained that the car journeys most likely to be substituted with cycling or walking are shorter ones, which have higher levels of emissions per kilometre.

She said: "It is also important to note that we would expect the more extensive networks of cycle lanes which some councils are now putting in, to have an even bigger response.

"It is also important to note that we would expect the more extensive networks of cycle lanes which some councils are now putting in, to have an even bigger response," she added.

Critics of London’s Cycle Superhighways, including the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, claim that the infrastructure causes increased congestion and thereby air pollution, something that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan firmly rejected last week.

Last year, the charity Cycling UK described as “out of date” members of the House of Lords who repeated the claim during a debate on air quality that building cycle lanes leads to more pollution.

 

 

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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5 comments

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georgee | 6 years ago
3 likes

I understadn their next commission is looking at where bears take a sh1t

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madcarew | 6 years ago
0 likes

I wonder what the return on investment is ($$ / kg carbon saved) of this compared to other methods of carbon reduction.

And it's funny, but that's science, it would seem an absolute given that increasing foot and cycle use would lower pollution and emissions, but you really do need to test it as often there are unintended consequences to well meaning actions.

Burt, you want to critique the study for us? see how solid it is, as you have good experience in that area.

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burtthebike | 6 years ago
2 likes

And I'm absolutely certain the the msm, especially the BBC, will start ignoring this research immediately.  There appears to be media-wide ban on reporting anything positive about cycling e.g. yesterday on BBC R4 there was a long article about Manchester and how it was tackling pollution and climate change, with segment on transport; great I thought as they launched into it, they have to mention the huge investment into cycling, but not a single solitary chipolata.

I know most of the media is owned by self-serving petrolheads who hate cycling and are never going to say anything nice about it, but the BBC?  It has run a thirty year propaganda campaign about helmets and apparently has a complete ban on reporting any of the benefits of cycling, but it regularly has articles about congestion, pollution, health, obesity and climate change, but does not mention cycling, or not to my knowledge anyway.  On any rational analysis, cycling should be front and centre for any article on those subjects.

And before anyone suggests that I contact them to point out their omission, trust me, I have, both to complain and to propose programme ideas about cycling, many times.

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maviczap replied to burtthebike | 6 years ago
1 like

burtthebike wrote:

And I'm absolutely certain the the msm, especially the BBC, will start ignoring this research immediately.  There appears to be media-wide ban on reporting anything positive about cycling e.g. yesterday on BBC R4 there was a long article about Manchester and how it was tackling pollution and climate change, with segment on transport; great I thought as they launched into it, they have to mention the huge investment into cycling, but not a single solitary chipolata.

I know most of the media is owned by self-serving petrolheads who hate cycling and are never going to say anything nice about it, but the BBC?  It has run a thirty year propaganda campaign about helmets and apparently has a complete ban on reporting any of the benefits of cycling, but it regularly has articles about congestion, pollution, health, obesity and climate change, but does not mention cycling, or not to my knowledge anyway.  On any rational analysis, cycling should be front and centre for any article on those subjects.

And before anyone suggests that I contact them to point out their omission, trust me, I have, both to complain and to propose programme ideas about cycling, many times.

Completely agree and check out their choices for Greatest sporting moments of the year for SPOTY, not one cycling nomination, despite 3 grand tour winners.

Football, golf,cricket, boxing and the only worthy candidate the women's netball team.

Maybe it's an insurance policy, as G must be in with a good shout for overall SPOTY title.

Bit off topic, but the BBC is terribly anti cycling, which doesn't help our cause.

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HarrogateSpa | 6 years ago
0 likes

Good. But it is worth reading through what you've written before publishing.

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