Quantifying Health & Economic Benefits of Bicycle Superhighway: Evidence from Patna

Active mode of transport is good for health as well as it is one of the most important mode of sustainable transport. In many previous studies/ reports, a cost-benefit analysis for a new infrastructure is provided, however it rarely includes the benefits due to physical activity. The present study attempts to quantify the benefits from physical activities. A comparison is made between business as usual and bicycle superhighway (BSH) scenario. The protective benefits are calculated for different values of average cycling duration. For reference, cycling for 3h/ week results in the relative risk of 0.72; in other words, cycling for 3h/ week results in 28% lesser deaths from any cause than non-cyclists. The average cycling duration are estimated using the output of a multi-agent transport simulation model. This subsequently is used to determine the number of deaths prevented each year for both scenarios. With the help of a simulation model of Patna, India, it is shown that a substantial increase in the longer bicycle trips is observed. This results in saving of more than 750 deaths each year.