A cost benefit analysis of an active travel intervention with health and carbon emission reduction benefits

Abstract

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Active travel (walking and cycling) is beneficial for people’s health and has many co-benefits, such as reducing motor vehicle congestion and pollution in urban areas. There have been few robust evaluations of active travel, and very few studies have valued health and emissions outcomes. The ACTIVE before-and-after quasi-experimental study estimated the net benefits of health and other outcomes from New Zealand’s Model Communities Programme using an empirical analysis comparing two intervention cities with two control cities. The Programme funded investment in cycle paths, other walking and cycling facilities, cycle parking, ‘shared spaces’, media campaigns and events, such as ‘Share the Road’, and cycle-skills training. Using the modified Integrated Transport and Health Impacts Model, the Programme’s net economic benefits were estimated from the changes in use of active travel modes. Annual benefits for health in the intervention cities were estimated at 34.4 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and two lives saved due to reductions in cardiac disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory disease. Reductions in transport-related carbon emissions were also estimated and valued. Using a discount rate of 3.5%, the estimated benefit/cost ratio was 11:1 and was robust to sensitivity testing. It is concluded that when concerted investment is made in active travel in a city, there is likely to be a measurable, positive return on investment.

Is cycle network expansion cost-effective? A health economic evaluation of cycling in Oslo

“…Gu, et al [ 50 ] found that investments in cycle lanes are more cost-effective than the majority of preventive approaches used nowadays. Other studies have also reported positive benefit-cost ratios [ 1 , 12 , 51 ]. Recently, there has been a growing need for health economic evaluations of such programs because they assist decision-makers in establishing priorities within cost-constrained health care budgets.…”

“…Studies suggest that cycle-network investments can increase cycling [ 1 – 3 ] and thereby improve health at the population level [ 4 , 5 ]. The national and local governmental authorities in Norway have aimed to support the growth of cycling as a means of transportation with the aim to improve health through increased physical activity.…”