I don't generally like debates in print
between individuals. I say readers ought to have the last word.
Exceptions can be made, though, when the public record needs
correcting.
This is the case with a recent letter
to the Advocate taking issue with my proposal that it's
worthwhile spending public money on bike infrastructure. The concept
was too easily dismissed with a derisive “gimme gimme.” There was
no insight in my argument, the letter said.
Well, allow me to provide some numbers,
if not insight.
The proportion of non-car commutes is
small, but rising every year. A study released in Edmonton and
Calgary last week points to a drop in the number of Albertans aged
15-24 who hold a driver's licence (from 90 per cent in 1991, to about
75 per cent to day).
Getting a licence and owning a car are
too expensive and bothersome for a growing contingent of people.
Other options have gotten more safe, accessible and pleasant.
About two thirds of Canadians tell
pollsters they would like to use a bike for their daily commutes more
often. The other third is divided between hard-core riders and people
who wouldn't ride a bike if you paid them. (Which, as a matter of
fact, is just what would happen if they did ride. Please read on.)
Those same polls show 82 per cent
Canadian support for public spending on infrastructure to make
cycling safe. The top barrier to cycling, we are told, is concerns
around safety. Make cycling safe, and more people will ride.
You could spend days studying reports
that come up on a search for the economic benefits of cycling
infrastructure. I will cite just few highlights.
• A report by Richard Campbell and
Margaret Wittgens in 2004 titled The Business Case for Active
Transport is a Canadian study that echoes many other
international studies calculating the economic benefits of cycling
infrastructure. Savings to health care was found to be a top benefit.
Just over 2.5 per cent of total health
care expenses result from poor physical activity. Cycling and walking
in daily commutes is the easiest and cheapest way to increase
activity. Campbell & Wittgens report each one per cent increase
in physical activity in the general population equals $25 million
saved in health care costs nationally.
They cite a potential 32 per cent
savings in costs related to colon cancers and 35 per cent savings in
costs related to Type 2 diabetes, if Canada achieved 15 per cent of
all commutes being active (biking and walking), which is the current
rate in Victoria.
If all of Canada walked and biked like
they do in Victoria, taxpayers would save $178 million in health care
costs. Every year. Gimme gimme.
• Studies worldwide say bike
commuters generally arrive at work more on time, take fewer sick days
and are more productive than inactive people. Workplaces that support
physical activity among staff report on average $513 return per year
per worker, over inactive workers. Gimme gimme.
• Campbell & Wittgens say total savings
to Canadian municipalities in road repairs (4 cents for every
kilometre ridden by cyclists), plus reductions in parking subsidies,
impact of tourism, increased retail sales in pedestrian and
bike-friendly areas, boosted property values of homes near bike
infrastructure and more) adds up to about $3.6 billion a year in
Canada today.
If we were all like Victoria, cities
and their residents would have about $7 billion a year extra to spend
on things other than closing roads every summer to repave them,
building costly parkades and the rest. Gimme gimme.
• The cost of traffic collisions,
considering all effects to property and people was $10.5 billion in
1998. At our current rate of not using cars for commutes, we save $45
million a year, because collisions not involving cars cost way less.
At the “Victoria” rate, those savings would be $301 million a
year. That's money in peoples' pockets and a whole lot less grief in
our lives. Gimme gimme.
• Parking spaces costs thousands of
dollars a year to buy land for, build and maintain. At the rate
Canadians leave their cars at home now, they collectively save
municipalities $1.28 billion a year in direct parking costs, plus tax
subsidies for parking spaces that aren't built because we don't need
them. The “Victoria” rate would be $2.47 billion a year. Gimme
gimme.
• The impact of all this adds up to
jobs when the savings are spent. Per 100,000 households, that's 462
jobs created by that new disposable income. It would be about 900
jobs if we were all like Victoria. Open your car window and say
“gimme gimme” to someone who can't find a job.
• Homes near bike infrastructure sell
faster and for more money than homes that are not. In Surrey B.C.,
the differential ranges from very small (one per cent) to a whopping
20 per cent over the same type of homes, but in neighbourhoods that
are only driveable. That's instant equity. Gimme gimme.
• The European Cyclists Federation
tallied direct and indirect benefits of cycling infrastructure
investment in the Eurozone at 400 Euros per person, per year. That's
about 200 billion Euros, or the entire GDP of Denmark, per year. That's at just
7.4 per cent of all trips in Europe being made by bike. But look at
that number. Gimme gimme.
The people coming out to the RDABC bike
ride Sept. 13 are not just a bunch of takers. They are taxpayers. Bike commuters put more into Red Deer's economy than the cost of a few
bike lanes — and a lot more than people give them credit for.
Check bikereddeer.com for details on
the ride. Maybe you'd like to have a slice of those benefits for
yourself.
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