Cycling For Health, Wealth and Freedom

7 April 2011 By Todd Litman Originally published in On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your i!e Amy Walker, Editor, 2011 For honestys sake, automobile advertisements should show motorists who look overweight, impoverished and stressed, since that is the real outcome of an automobiledependent lifestyle. A lifestyle that includes plenty of cycling can make you truly healthy, wealthy and free. If irony could kill, driving to a health club to exercise on a treadmill or stationary bike would be deadly. et, this is what occurs when exercise is considered a commodity that re!uires special expenditures of time, money and effort. "hat approach is really a prescription for failure. #ealth clubs sell about five times the number of memberships they can actually accommodate because most people !uickly drop out. A much better approach is to integrate exercise into daily transportation by walking and cycling when possible. $ven if such trips are slower than driving, they save overall by avoiding the time and money re!uired to exercise at a health club. It may not be feasible to walk or bike for every trip, but with a little planning, many trips can be made efficiently by a combination of walking, cycling and public transport. Figure % shows the portion of trips devoted to various purposes. &ocial, recreational, shopping, errands, and trips to school are particularly suitable to non-motori'ed travel, and represent a ma(or portion of total personal travel, as indicated in Figure %.

Figure 1

Travel By Trip Purpose1

This figure illustrates away-from-home trip purposes. Many of these trips can be performed efficiently by some combination of walking, cycling and public transport.

Automobile transportation is costly. )wning and operating even a basic car costs *+,,,, to *-,,,, annually in depreciation, fuel, insurance, registration, maintenance and repairs, parking expenses and traffic citations. For wealthy households these expenses are bearable, but for many middle and lower-income households, maintaining a car for each adult imposes significant financial burdens which prevent people from fulfilling their aspirations. For example, using data from the ..&. /ureau of 0abor &tatistics 1,,2 3onsumer $xpenditure &urvey, the lowest income !uintile 41,5 of population6 households had *%,,7,2 average incomes and spent an average of *+,+%, on each vehicle they owned, representing about +,5 of total household income, as illustrated in Figure 1.

2009 National ousehold Tra!el "ur!ey, http899nhts.ornl.gov9tables,:9fatcat91,,:9pmt;"<="<A>&;?# "<=%&.html, excluding @refusedA @Bont CnowA and @>ot AscertainedA, and excluding trips to home.

Figure 2
! % !0% 2 % 20%

Vehicle Costs Relative to Household Income2

e m o c n I d l h e s u H f n i t r o P

1 % 10% % 0%

"irst

#e$ond

Third

"ourth

"i%th

Income

uintile !"#$ of Households%

The lowest income #uintile $poorest 20%& households must spend about '0% of total income to own an automobile.

3ycling is much more affordable. A reliable bicycle and accessories cost about a thousand dollars new, and less used, and lasts about ten years. "his averages about *1-, annually for depreciation and maintenance. )f course, cycling does re!uire expensive fuel, called food, but most of us consume too much already and benefit from burning off excess calories so this consumption is generally considered a benefit, not a cost. /y relying primarily on affordable modes D walking, cycling and public transport D you can save thousands of dollars annually, providing financial freedom. For some people, this means more money to spend on education, housing or entertainment. For others, it means freedom to work less and devote more time to travel, family or art. /icycling can play an important role in a multi-modal transportation system. An average cyclist rides about %, miles 4%7 kilometers6 an hour, which provides access to about +, s!uare miles within 1, minutes of riding time, the area of a typical small city. In large cities travelers can often reach destinations as fast as a motorist by combining cycling and public transit travel. Internal Fi&ed
Bepreciation Eost maintenance Insurance <egistration fees <esidential parking

Internal Varia'le
Fuel &ome maintenance <oad tolls )ut-of-pocket parking charges

(&ternal
3ongestion imposed on other road users Accident risk to other road users #alf of roadway costs Eost parking costs Air pollution Fuel externalities and subsidies

200( )onsumer *+penditure "ur!ey, calculated from http://www.bls.gov/cex/#tables)

Eotor vehicles are expensive to own but cheap to drive because most costs are either fixed or external. "his price structure encourages motorists to drive more than is economically efficient. "his is a market distortion that encourages motorists to maximi'e their driving in order to get their moneys worth from their investments, resulting in economically excessive motor vehicle travel. "he best way to avoid this incentive is to avoid owning a car, and relying on car sharing and rentals when you need a motor vehicle. "his is in many ways superior, since car sharing companies offer a variety of vehicles. As a member you can choose the best type for each trip8 a truck for moving, a van for carrying friends, and a sna''y sports car for a &aturday night date. An economy in which driving seems cheap, because costs are externali'ed, is an economy in which other things are expensive, including housing, health and environmental !uality. For example, a ma(or portion of roadway and parking facility costs are financed through local property and sales taxes, and incorporated into building development costs, which increases the costs of housing and retail goods. 0ow fuel prices increase the economic and environmental costs of producing, importing and burning fossil fuels. Eotor vehicle crashes impose significant damages which harm victims directly and reduce economic productivity. Briving may seem to provide freedom, but it is an immature vision, like a child rebelling against household rules. "rue freedom is not simply selfish indulgence, it often involves complicated tradeoffs. Automobile travel increases freedom in some ways, it reduces it in others8 Briving is expensive, so motorists must work more hours or have less money to spend on other goods, a loss of time and fiscal freedom. Automobile-oriented land use development disperses destinations, so the faster speeds and direct travel of automobile travel is offset by increased distances, resulting in little or no overall time savings. >on-drivers lose freedom, due to reduced travel options 4degraded walking and cycling conditions, reduced public transportation and taxi services6 and more dispersed land use patterns. 3rash risk. Fear of crashes reduces peoples 4particularly children, people with disabilities and low incomes6 walking and cycling mobility, and accident in(uries and deaths cause severe losses of freedom, as well as economic costs. Automobile travel depends on public resources and subsidies, and imposes nonmarket externalities. It deprives people of freedoms. For example, consumers are often forced to pay for roads and parking facilities regardless of how much they use them8 they lack the freedom to say @noA to such costs or to choose alternative investments and travel options that they may prefer. &imilarly, the freedom to drive a noisy motorcycle conflicts with residents freedom to en(oy !uiet. "he supposed higher speed of driving is really an illusion. ?hen travel is measured by effecti!e speed, that is, the total time devoted to travel including time spent earning money to pay transport costs, bicycling is generally faster than driving. A typical motorist spends about :, daily minutes driving plus about F, daily minutes earning money to pay

vehicle expenses, and drives about +, daily miles, which averages about %% miles per hour, plus additional time and money spent on exercise. A typical cyclist rides about %1 miles per hour, need only spend about two daily minutes earning bike expenses, and avoids special costs for exercise. "here are, of course, additional benefits from walking and bicycling that do not show up on financial accounts. "hey are en(oyable and sociable activities. "hey are the ideal way to see and interact with your community and get to know your neighbors. "hey help you develop shapely legs. "he recipe for health, wealth and freedom is to lead a multi-modal lifestyle that uses each mode for what it does best8 walking and cycling for local trips, public transit when appropriate, and automobiles when necessary. "his re!uires a combination of personal preparation and community planning. #ere is a checklist to help guide you into this lifestyle8 Ceep appropriate clothing, shoes, hats, and an umbrella, ready at your doorstep. #ave a bicycle, e!uipped with rack, panniers, lights and lock, ready for errands.D 3hoose to live in a walkable and bikeable community, with sidewalks and bikelanes, traffic calming and speed controls, and numerous services 4shops, schools, and parks6 within your neighborhood. If possible, live near high !uality public transit, with relatively fast and fre!uent bus or train service. ?alk as much as possible in your neighborhood, and get to know your neighbors. Avoid owning an automobile. .se car sharing or share a vehicle among several drivers. <ely on rental vehicles when needed. =romote walking, cycling and public transit improvements in your community. =romote smart growth land use development policies, including more compact and mixed development, more connected and multi-modal roadway design, and more efficient parking management.

For )ore Information 3>" 41,,26, ousing , Transportation -ffordability .nde+, 3enter for >eighborhood "echnology 4http899htaindex.cnt.org6. "odd 0itman 41,,F6, Transportation -ffordability/ *!aluation and .mpro!ement "trategies, G"=I 4www.vtpi.org6H at www.vtpi.org9affordability.pdf. "odd 0itman 41,%%6, *!aluating Non-Motori0ed Transport 1enefits and )osts, Gictoria "ransport =olicy Institute 4www.vtpi.org6H at www.vtpi.org9nmt-tdm.pdf. >3/? 41,%,6, .ncreasing 2hysical -cti!ity Through )ommunity 3esign/ - 4uide for

2ublic ealth 2ractitioners, >ational 3enter for /icycling and ?alking 4www.bikewalk.org6H at www.bikewalk.org9pdfs91,%,9I=A;full.pdf. Iohn =ucher, Iennifer Bill and &usan #andy 41,%,6, @Infrastructure, =rograms and =olicies "o Increase /icycling8 An International <eview,A 2re!enti!e Medicine, Gol. J2, >o. 1, FebruaryH prepared for the -cti!e 5i!ing 1y 3esign 2rogram 4www.activelivingresearch.org9resourcesearch9(ournalspecialissues6H at http899policy.rutgers.edu9faculty9pucher9=ucher;Bill;#andy%,.pdf. Iames ?oodcock, )scar # Franco, >icola )rsini and Ian <oberts 41,%,6, @>on-Gigorous =hysical Activity And All-3ause Eortality8 &ystematic <eview And Eeta-Analysis )f 3ohort &tudies,A .nternational 6ournal of *pidemiology, doi8%,.%,:+9i(e9dy!%,J 4http899i(e.oxford(ournals.org9cgi9content9abstract9dy!%,J6.