The value of time and external benefits in bicycle appraisal
2011 (English)Report (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
We estimate the value of time savings, different cycling environments and additional benefits in cost-benefit analysis of cycling investments. Cyclists value of travel time savings turns out to be high, considerably higher than the value of time savings on alternative modes. Cyclists also value other improvements highly, such as separated bicycle lanes. As to additional benefits of cycling improvements in the form of health and reduced car traffic, our results do not support the notion that these will be a significant part in a cost-benefit analysis. Bicyclists seem to take health largely into account when making their travel choices, implying that it would be double-counting to add total health benefits to the analysis once the consumer surplus has been correctly calculated. As to reductions in car traffic, our results indicate that the cross-elasticity between car and cycle is low, and hence benefits from traffic reductions will be small. However, the valuations of improved cycling speeds and comfort are so high that it seems likely that improvements for cyclists are cost-effective compared to many other types of investments, without having to invoke second-order, indirect effects. In other words, our results suggest that bicycle should be viewed as a competitive mode of travel and not primarily as a means to achieve improved health or reduced car traffic.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, S-WoPEc, Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics , 2011. , p. 20
Series
CTS Working Paper ; 2011:22
Keywords [en]
Cycling, Investment, Cost benefit analysis, Methodology, Stated preference, Value analysis, Questionnaire, Cyclist, Journey time, Waiting time, Cycle track, Parking, External effect, Health, Emission
National Category
Transport Systems and Logistics
Research subject
10 Road: Transport, society, policy and planning, 113 Road: Cycling, walking and moped transport
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:vti:diva-654OAI: oai:DiVA.org:vti-654DiVA, id: diva2:669349
2013-12-032013-12-032025-09-11Bibliographically approved