A new Monash University research paper provides a guide to helping people switch car trips for cycling and walking.
The Shifting Gears paper, published in Transport Reviews, summarises the global evidence for the effectiveness of different actions to encourage walking and bike riding.
Not surprisingly, infrastructure such as protected bike lanes is a crucial intervention, but other programs also led to significant increases.
“Our review revealed that supportive active transport infrastructure, such as protected bike lanes and traffic-calming infrastructure, were most effective at helping people cycle for longer,” lead author Lauren Pearson said.
“People with access to these types of infrastructure rode 28 minutes per week more compared to those without them – the highest across all intervention types.
“Infrastructure that either separates people from motor vehicles, or makes those interactions less frequent and less stressful (such as 30kmh speeds and low-traffic-neighbourhood approaches), have the potential to drastically increase uptake of active transport.”
Targeted educational programs increased cycling by 14 minutes per week and walking by 39 minutes per week, in contrast with general health messaging, which had no impact.
Walking and cycling buses were particularly effective with a 42% increase in cycling to school and 38% increase in overall active trips.
Pearson said it’s likely that a combination of infrastructure, habit disruption such as congestion charging and educational programs are needed if we are to see a “drastic uptake of active modes”.
While the paper reviewed 106 high quality reports, the task was complicated by many studies not assessing whether interventions led to a reduction in car trips or tracking changed behaviour over the long term.
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