Elliot Fishman

Bike Share: A Synthesis of the Literature

This paper begins by providing an overview of bike share programs, followed by a critical examination of the growing body of literature on these programs. This synthesis of previous works, both peer-reviewed and gray, includes an identification of the current gaps in knowledge related to the impacts of bike sharing programs. This synthesis represents a critically needed evaluation of the current state of global bike share research, in order to better understand, and maximize the effectiveness of current and future programs. Several consistent themes have emerged within the growing body of research on bike share programs. Firstly, the importance bike share members place on convenience and value for money appears paramount in their motivation to sign up and use these programs. Secondly, and somewhat counter intuitively, scheme members are more likely to own and use private bicycles than nonmembers. Thirdly, users demonstrate a greater reluctance to wear helmets than private bicycle riders and helmets have acted as a deterrent in jurisdictions in which helmets are mandatory. Finally, and perhaps most importantly from a sustainable transport perspective, the majority of scheme users are substituting from sustainable modes of transport rather than the car.

Bikeshare: A Review of Recent Literature

Abstract The number of cities offering bikeshare has increased rapidly, from just a handful in the late 1990s to over 800 currently. This paper provides a review of recent bikeshare literature. Several themes have begun to emerge from studies examining bikeshare. Convenience is the major motivator for bikeshare use. Financial savings has been found to motivate those on a low income and the distance one lives from a docking station is an important predictor for bikeshare membership. In a range of countries, it has been found that just under 50% of bikeshare members use the system less than once a month. Men use bikeshare more than women, but the imbalance is not as dramatic as private bike riding (at least in low cycling countries). Commuting is the most common trip purpose for annual members. Users are less likely than private cyclists to wear helmets, but in countries with mandatory helmet legislation, usage levels have suffered. Bikeshare users appear less likely to be injured than private bike riders. Future directions include integration with e-bikes, GPS (global positioning system), dockless systems and improved public transport integration. Greater research is required to quantify the impacts of bikeshare, in terms of mode choice, emissions, congestion and health.

E-bikes in the Mainstream: Reviewing a Decade of Research

Abstract Electric bicycles (e-bikes) represent one of the fastest growing segments of the transport market. Over 31 million e-bikes were sold in 2012. Research has followed this growth and this paper provides a synthesis of the most pertinent themes emerging over the past on the burgeoning topic of e-bikes. The focus is transport rather than recreational e-bike research, as well as the most critical research gaps requiring attention. China leads the world in e-bike sales, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. E-bikes can maintain speed with less effort. E-bikes are found to increase bicycle usage. E-bikes have the potential to displace conventional motorised (internal combustion) modes, but there are open questions about their role in displacing traditional bicycles. E-bikes have been shown to provide health benefits and an order of magnitude less carbon dioxide than a car travelling the same distance. Safety issues have emerged as a policy issue in several jurisdictions and e-bike numbers are now approaching levels in which adequate safety data are able to be collected. Research on e-bikes is still in its infancy. As e-bike usage continues to grow, so too will the need for further research, in order to provide the necessary data to inform policy-makers and industry.

The safety of electrically assisted bicycles compared to classic bicycles.

Use of electrically assisted bicycles with a maximum speed of 25 km/h is rapidly increasing. This growth has been particularly rapid in the Netherlands, yet very little research has been conducted to assess the road safety implications. This case-control study compares the likelihood of crashes for which treatment at an emergency department is needed and injury consequences for electric bicycles to classic bicycles in the Netherlands among users of 16 years and older. Data were gathered through a survey of victims treated at emergency departments. Additionally, a survey of cyclists without any known crash experience, drawn from a panel of the Dutch population acted as a control sample. Logistic regression analysis is used to compare the risk of crashes with electric and classical bicycles requiring treatment at an emergency department. Among the victims treated at an emergency department we compared those being hospitalized to those being send home after the treatment at the emergency department to compare the injury consequences between electric and classical bicycle victims. The results suggest that, after controlling for age, gender and amount of bicycle use, electric bicycle users are more likely to be involved in a crash that requires treatment at an emergency department due to a crash. Crashes with electric bicycles are about equally severe as crashes with classic bicycles. We advise further research to develop policies to minimize the risk and maximize the health benefits for users of electric bicycles.

Adult active transport in the Netherlands: An analysis of its contribution to physical activity requirements

Introduction Modern, urban lifestyles have engineered physical activity out of everyday life and this presents a major threat to human health. The Netherlands is a world leader in active travel, particularly cycling, but little research has sought to quantify the cumulative amount of physical activity through everyday walking and cycling. Methods Using data collected as part of the Dutch National Travel Survey (2010 – 2012), this paper determines the degree to which Dutch walking and cycling contributes to meeting minimum level of physical activity of 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity throughout the week. The sample includes 74,465 individuals who recorded at least some travel on the day surveyed. As physical activity benefits are cumulative, all walking and cycling trips are analysed, including those to and from public transport. These trips are then converted into an established measure of physical activity intensity, known as metabolic equivalents of tasks. Multivariate Tobit regression models were performed on a range of socio-demographic, transport resources, urban form and meteorological characteristics. Results The results reveal that Dutch men and women participate in 24 and 28 minutes of daily physical activity through walking and cycling, which is 41% and 55% more than the minimum recommended level. It should be noted however that some 57% of the entire sample failed to record any walking or cycling, and an investigation of this particular group serves as an important topic of future research. Active transport was positively related with age, income, bicycle ownership, urban density and air temperature. Car ownership had a strong negative relationship with physically active travel. Conclusion The results of this analysis demonstrate the significance of active transport to counter the emerging issue of sedentary lifestyle disease. The Dutch experience provides other countries with a highly relevant case study in the creation of environments and cultures that support healthy, active living.

Cycling as transport

Urban cycling is clearly a topic of immense interest to the transport research community, and this Special Issue captures key themes amongst the rapidly growing body of research. Several well-cited papers have already been published in Transport Reviews (e.g. Fishman, Washington, & Haworth, 2013; Heinen, van Wee, & Maat, 2009; Pucher & Buehler, 2008), and this set of papers builds on that foundation. This growing demand for knowledge on urban transport cycling is a reflection of the realisation of the limitations of automobile-dependent transport planning, in terms of congestion, parking problems, reduced levels of amenity and liveability, air pollution, resource depletion, climate change and road traffic injury (Hickman & Banister, 2014). Indeed Peak Car, a phenomenon that was comprehensively captured in a recent Special Issue of this journal (Goodwin & Van Dender, 2013), can be seen at least in part as a consequence of a shift away from the prime position the car has held in society since the end of the Second World War. The growing interest in transport cycling from the research community is matched by the increasing interest shown by city governments in beginning the process of making their urban environments more bicycle friendly. The early adopter cities, such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen, are enjoying the benefits of their efforts, with some 40% of trips now being completed by bike (Pucher, Dill et al., 2010). The Netherlands deserves special mention given that it is the entire country, not just one city, that records such strong levels of cycling (Fishman, Böcker, & Helbich, 2015; Harms, Bertolini, & Brömmelstroet, 2014). There is a lot the world can learn from the Dutch experience. The Dutch and Danish achievements provide a window into a possible future for other cities that are now beginning to appreciate the benefits of making cycling ‘irresistible’, as Pucher and Buehler call it (2008). The launch of Velib’s 20,000 bikes as part of Europe’s largest bike share programme in the French capital in 2007 and the preceding enhancement to the bicycle infrastructure network acted as a catalyst for many of the 850 cities that have established a bike share programme. Cities without a strong history in transport cycling (e.g. London, New York City, Barcelona, and Chicago) have all recently begun to lay the foundations for a transport system that better accommodates people who choose to cycle. Based on findings from data collected in Berlin and London, the New Urban Mobility study (Hoffmann, Kandt, Smith, & Graff, 2015) has found that transport departments consistently overestimate car use. This is caused by a combination of changing attitudes, demographics, and emerging technology that are helping urban populations lower their dependence on the private car. The crucial point is that these changes and the

Dutch Cycling: Quantifying the Health and Related Economic Benefits

The Netherlands is well known for their high bicycle use. We used the Health Economic Assessment Tool and life table calculations to quantify the population-level health benefits from Dutch cycling levels. Cycling prevents about 6500 deaths each year, and Dutch people have half-a-year-longer life expectancy because of cycling. These health benefits correspond to more than 3% of the Dutch gross domestic product. Our study confirmed that investments in bicycle-promoting policies (e.g., improved bicycle infrastructure and facilities) will likely yield a high cost-benefit ratio in the long term.

Global bike share: what the data tells us about road safety

INTRODUCTION Bike share has emerged as a rapidly growing mode of transport in over 800 cities globally, up from just a handful in the 1990s. Some analysts had forecast a rise in the number of bicycle crashes after the introduction of bike share, but empirical research on bike share safety is rare. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of bike share programs on cycling safety. METHODS The paper has two substudies. Study 1 was a secondary analysis of longitudinal hospital injury data from the Graves et al. (2014) study. It compared cycling safety in cities that introduced bike share programs with cities that did not. Study 2 combined ridership data with crash data of selected North American and European cities to compare bike share users to other cyclists. RESULTS Study 1 indicated that the introduction of a bike share system was associated with a reduction in cycling injury risk. Study 2 found that bike share users were less likely than other cyclists to sustain fatal or severe injuries. CONCLUSIONS On a per kilometer basis, bike share is associated with decreased risk of both fatal and non-fatal bicycle crashes when compared to private bike riding. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The results of this study suggest that concerns of decreased levels of cycling safety are unjustified and should not prevent decision makers from introducing public bike share schemes, especially if combined with other safety measures like traffic calming.

Can cycling safety be improved by opening all unidirectional cycle paths for cycle traffic in both directions? A theoretical examination of available literature and data.

Many studies have found bicycle-motor vehicle crashes to be more likely on bidirectional cycle paths than on unidirectional cycle paths because drivers do not expect cyclists riding at the right side of the road. In this paper we discuss the hypothesis that opening all unidirectional cycle paths for cycle traffic in both directions prevent this lack of expectancy and accordingly improves cycling safety. A new national standard requires careful consideration because a reversal is difficult once cyclists are used to their new freedom of route choice. We therefore explored the hypothesis using available data, research, and theories. The results show that of the length of cycle paths along distributor roads in the Netherlands, 72% is bidirectional. If drivers would become used to cyclists riding at the left side of the road, this result raises the question of why bidirectional cycle paths in the Netherlands still have a poor safety record compared to unidirectional cycle paths. Moreover, our exploration suggested that bidirectional cycle paths have additional safety problems. It increases the complexity of unsignalized intersections because drivers have to scan more directions in a short period of time. Moreover, there are some indications that the likelihood of frontal crashes between cyclists increases. We reject the hypothesis that opening all unidirectional cycle paths for cycle traffic in both directions will improve cycle safety. We recommend more attention for mitigating measures given the widespread application of bidirectional cycle paths in the Netherlands.