Cycle infrastructure responsible for 85% of cycling increase | road.cc

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

The natural experiment study, (link is external) which was one of the first of its kind to examine how environmental changes influence changes in physical activity, compared commuting data between 2009 and 2012 based on how close people lived to new cycle infrastructure, in this case the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.

Cycling UK, the national cycling charity (formerly CTC), says this provides further evidence that for a UK ‘cycling revolution’ the government needs to invest in protected infrastructure.

Funded by the Medical Research Council, the study compared data from the 2009 and 2012 commuting and health in Cambridge natural experimental study, with follow-up assessments in 2010, 2011 and 2012 asking participants if they had walked or cycled on the path beside the guided busway. . . .

It concludes changing the environment, i.e. introducing new cycle infrastructure, means people cycle more – with associated health benefits. One interesting finding was that existing commuters who lived near the busway spent less time cycling, researchers posited either because using public transport became more convenient or because it seemed like their journeys were shorter, or they were shorter because of fewer junctions and consequently higher speeds.

Link: 

Cycle infrastructure responsible for 85% of cycling increase | road.cc

MoBikeFed comment: More and more research is making it clear that adding high-quality bicycle infrastructure is by far the most important factor in encouraging more people to bicycle more often.

Over the past century, we have seen the opposite approach at work in Missouri: A nearly complete lack of good, safe places to bicycle meant that only a very small proportion of the population bicycled regularly.

But as we see Missouri cities spent a small amount of money on good bicycle infrastructure, we clearly see the that more people are bicycling.

Bicycling is on the upswing in Missouri now, and we need to keep working to ensure that this trend continues.

As the article makes clear, the top priority is install more good, usable bicycle infrastructure.