This is the full independent report that was commissioned to evaluate the results from the 'Sustainable Travel Towns' - Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester. These towns implemented packages of 'Smarter Choice' measures, which resulted in increases in cycling, walking and bus use, and decreases in car use.

Download report here in PDF format

In these times of high gas prices, a warming climate, increasing traffic congestion, and expanding waistlines, increasing bicycling and walking are goals that are clearly in the public interest. As this report shows, where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower.

Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. Increasing bicycling and walking can help solve many of the largest problems facing our nation.

Transport modes such as walking and cycling, including cycling to school, could play a key role in combating obesity, climate change and traffic congestion as well as restoring ‘social capital’ within communities. The objective of this research was to identify the specific barriers to school students cycling to school for six intermediate schools and recommend interventions that would be effective, acceptable to parents and schools, and favourable to school students for each of the schools.

This article highlights the impact the bicycle industry and bicycle tourism can have on state and local economies, describes the need for bicycle facilities, discusses the cost effectiveness of investments, points out the benefits of bike facilities for business districts and neighbourhoods, and identifies the cost savings associated with a mode shift from car to bicycle. The evidence demonstrates that investments in bicycle infrastructure make good economic sense as a cost effective way to enhance shopping districts and communities, generate tourism and support business.