Non motorised transport
VOL 1
Teaching and Learning Material
funded within the 6th Framework Programme of the EU
as Specific Support Action
The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not represent the opinion of the Community. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
For the use of the following material:
The following material contains results of EU research projects and complementary results of national research.
This Teaching and Learning material is based on new or updated research results in the field of local and regional transport. The aim of the material is to provide an easy access for lecturers and students to single projects and detailed results. The material provided is not comprehensive, but contributes to the wider set of course material on this topic. A complete list of the projects, consortia and cited literature including links, is provided at the end of the material.
This material, based on project results for the topic “Non Motorised Transport” was compiled by Elke Bossaert and Raf Canters in 2007.
ADONIS:Analysis and development of new insight into substitution of short car trips by cycling and walking
BYPAD:BicYcle Policy AuDit (The first BYPAD project ran from September 1999 till end of March 2001)
BYPAD +:(continuation of BYPAD which ran until the end of 2004)
BYPAD PLATFORM
I-CE:Interface for Cycling Expertise
SPICYCLES:Sustainable Planning & Innovation for biCYCLES
SUCCESS:Smaller Urban Communities in Civitas for Environmentally Sustainable Solutions
TRUMP:Training Programme for Urban Transport Professionals
VELO INFO:Velo Mondial aims to bring all international stakeholders together to create a higher-level synergy of expert knowledge to support the position of cycling planning on the agenda of local and national governments.
Table of Contents
1.Introduction
1.1Definition
1.2Objectives and skills
1.3Challenges
1.4Link with EU policies
1.5Executive summary
2.Non Motorised Transport - strategies to make walking and cycling convenient, safe and pleasant
2.1General
2.2NMT in developing countries
2.3Basic Data and Performance Indicators
2.4Measuring Non Motorised Transport in Conventional Travel Surveys
2.5Modelling Non Motorised Transport
2.6Walking
2.7Cycling
Development of bicycle use in Western Europe
2.8Benchmarking national cycling policies
NATCYP
BYPAD
Velo.Info: The European Network for Cycling Expertise
SPICYCLES
3.National Differences / Local Adaptations
4.Examples and study sites
4.1CIVITAS Initiative: Implementing new infrastructures for walking and cycling in Ploiesti, Romania
Objectives / Innovative Aspects
The Measure
Implementation Status
(Expected) Results
4.2City bike scheme in Burgos, Spain
Objectives / Innovative Aspects
The Measure
Implementation Status
(Expected) Results
4.3Results Of The Bypad Audit In Gent, Belgium
Leadership:
Policy on paper:
Means and Personnel:
Infrastructure:
Communication & Education:
Target groups and partnerships:
Complementary activities:
Evaluation & Effects:
4.4Short Trip Contracts in Flanders, Belgium
Measure
Results
5.Recommendations for futher reading
6.Exercises
6.1Walkability Audit Tool
6.2Exercises from TRUMP
7.Literature and Websites
8.Glossary
9.Non Motorised Transport – The consortia of the projects
Non Motorised Transport1
Volume I Teaching and Learning Material
1.Introduction
1.1Definition
Non Motorised Transport includes walking, cycling, small-wheeled transport (skates, skateboards, push scooters and hand carts) and wheelchair travel. These modes provide both recreation (they are an end in themselves) and transportation (they provide access to goods and activities), although users may consider a particular trip to serve both objectives. For example, some people will choose to walk or cycle rather than drive because they enjoy the activity, although it takes longer.
1.2Objectives and skills
The students should gain the following skills and knowledge:
- Know the advantages and disadvantages of non motorised transport compared to motorised transport.
- Know the different ways and techniques to improve non motorised transport.
- Know different techniques to increase Walkability of a city.
- Know different techniques to improve cycling circumstances.
- Be able to advise or consult city administrations when trying to increase non motorised transport.
- Be able to provide examples and case studies of good practice in encouraging non motorised transport.
1.3Challenges
Non motorised transport meets the challenges of ever increasing motorised urban transport. Increasing walking and cycling as well as all other modes of non motorised transport is part of the challenge to secure a sustainable future.
1.4Link with EU policies
Around 80% of European citizens live in an urban environment. They share in their daily life the same space and, for their mobility, the same infrastructure. Urban mobility accounts for 40% of all CO² emissions of road transport and up to 70% of other pollutants from transport.
European cities increasingly face problems caused by transport and traffic. The question of how to enhance mobility while at the same time reducing congestion, accidents and pollution is a common challenge to all major cities in Europe. Cities themselves are usually in the best position to find the right answer to this question that takes into account their specific circumstances.
At the same time, urban transport policy is of increasing importance for the EU. Efficient and effective urban transport can significantly contribute to achieving objectives in a wide range of policy domains for which the EU has an established competence. The success of policies and policy objectives that have been agreed at EU level, for example on efficiency of the EU transport system, socio-economic objectives, energy dependency or climate change, partly depends on actions taken by national, regional and local authorities.
Existing EU legislation, for example on public service obligations in public transport, air quality and noise and vehicles standards, does have a direct impact on the transport policies of Europe's cities. EU policy and financial programmes for regional development and research provide significant resources for the renewal and innovation of urban transport infrastructures, technologies and services in many European cities.
In its Communication on the mid-term review of the 2001Transport White Paper (Keep Europe moving – Sustainable mobility for our continent. COM (2006) 314 final) the Commission announced the publication of a Green Paper on urban transport in 2007 to identify potential European added value to action that is taken at the local level.
The Green Paper will examine whether obstacles to successful urban transport policies exist at the EU level. In addition, it will examine where, whilst fully respecting the subsidiarity principle, there is a consensus among stakeholders to develop and implement joint solutions. The Green Paper will form the basis for the development of a European policy on urban transport as part of European transport policy. The Green Paper will address all transport modes, including walking, cycling, motorcycles and motor vehicles, and will cover both urban freight logistics and passenger transport.
In the field of urban mobility research, an extensive range of research, applied research and demonstration activities are being financed. More information on many of these projects can be found in the European web portal on urban transport ELTIS (
The European Commission also supports sustainable urban transport by setting up the CIVITAS initiative. The CIVITAS Initiative helps cities to implement and test innovative and integrated strategies that address energy and transport objectives. So far projects in 36 cities have been supported. The annual CIVITAS Forum brings together practitioners and politicians from the CIVITAS cities. A new CIVITAS call for proposals is open in early 2007 and a new action that should help the wider take up of the CIVITAS results and recommendations is under development. All information on this specific EU initiative can be found on the CIVITAS website (
1.5Executive summary
Non motorised transport is often the key element of successfully encouraging clean urban transport. This material compiles results from EU and International research on non motorised transport. It brings forward different strategies to make walking, cycling and all other non motorised transport modes more convenient, safe, pleasant and convincing.
These materials provide examples, possible study sites and interesting initiatives to create new knowledge and experiences.
2.Non Motorised Transport - strategies to make walking and cycling convenient, safe and pleasant
2.1General
Non motorised transport (NMT) modes are an important and integral element of urban transport worldwide. The significance and function of non motorised transport varies by country and over time.
NMT are resource-efficient travel modes (i.e. they consume minimal road and parking space, impose minimal costs on consumers and the environment) that support the sustainable development objective. In fact NMT can be seen as part of Mobility Management measures, Transport Demand measures and Travel Awareness.
NMT modes help create more liveable communities and cities. They provide healthy exercise and enjoyment. It is a fact that human beings are walking animals. Environments that are conducive to walking are conducive to people. Walking is a fundamental and critical activity for physical and mental health. It provides physical exercise and relaxation. It is a social and recreational activity. Walking is also a critical component of the transport system, providing connections between homes and public transport, parking lots and destinations, and within airports. Often, the best way to improve another form of transport is to facilitate walking. (VTPI, 2007).
Despite the fact that NMT modes play such a vital role in our daily lives, they are often overlooked and undervalued. Conventional travel surveys find that only about 2% of total travel is by non motorised modes, which implies that it is unimportant, and improving non motorised conditions can do little to solve transport problems. However, conventional surveys undercount Non Motorised Transport because they ignore short trips, non-work travel, travel by children, recreational travel, and non motorised links. Actual Non Motorised Transport is usually three to six times greater than these surveys indicate (Litman, 2003).
Conventional transport planning assumes that society is better off if somebody spends 5 minutes driving for an errand than 10 minutes walking or cycling, since it applies an equal or greater cost value to non motorised trips than motorised trips, only considers vehicle operating costs (vehicle ownership costs, and external impacts such as congestion and parking costs are ignored), and no value is assigned to the health and enjoyment benefits of Non Motorised Transport. Such assumptions tend to skew countless planning decisions toward motorised travel at the expense of Non Motorised Transport. For example, it justifies expanding roadways to increase vehicle traffic capacity and speeds, requiring generous amounts of parking at destinations, and locating public facilities along busy suburban roadways, in order to facilitate car transport although each of these tends to reduce walking accessibility.
Non Motorised Transport tends to be stigmatized. Some people consider walking and cycling outdated, unsophisticated and unexciting compared with motorised modes, or even as symbols of poverty and failure.
Although we can already come to the conclusion of the importance of Non Motorised Transport to sustainable urban transport, it is noticeable how little specific attention is given to the topic in EU funded research projects. After the ADONIS project from the 4th Framework Programme, no specific research projects have been dedicated to walking and cycling as NMT. There are many EU funded projects aimed at increasing the number of sustainable transport modes but none of them are doing research on NMT as a separate or specific research topic. Indirectly we can use results from EU funded projects such as BYPAD, SPICYCLES, SUCCESS and many more. Promoting non motorised transport is also one of the key measures to be found in several CIVITAS cities. A selection of examples is included in chapter 4.
To provide research results and theory about Non Motorised Transport and travel, these materials are largely based on the findings of Victoria Transport Policy Institute (Canada) who have compiled this in the TDM Encyclopaedia (
2.2NMT in developing countries
I-ce, a project commissioned by the World Bank was dedicated to the topic of non motorised transport in developing countries. In many developing countries walking is the most important means of transport after public transport. Economic growth and urbanisation trends will cause a higher demand for means of public transport. Since NMT will continue to be part of the overall transport system, the functioning of NMT should be taken into account if one wants to improve the efficiency of the public transport system.
When commuter trip distances can be reduced by sound urban planning and spatial policy, then the opportunity for more bicycle trips will occur. Evidence presented proves that cyclists and pedestrians rarely choose voluntarily to cycle or walk. For these NMT users there are no other options to choose from; they are the so-called captive riders or walkers. People who do have options are deterred from using bicycles (or walking), by a lack of facilities for safe and convenient walking and cycling as well as by the “poverty” image NMT has. It suggests that users in the Netherlands will have different reasons for using NMT than those so-called captive riders and walkers in developing countries. Health, comfort, environment and especially practicality are motives for Dutch NMT users to choose NMT. The I-ce (2000) report shows that economic development in a number of poor countries initially goes hand in hand with a decrease in NMT and an increase in car and motorbike ownership. A possible scenario describes a process that a (NMT) road user will probably try to motorise his or her trips (e.g. using Public Transport); once that is possible, the road user will choose for an individual one with which he can identify. The car can thus be assumed as the “highest” order of transport: motorised, highest status and non-public.
To solve the mobility needs of the poor, emphasis has been concentrated on public transport. A supply-driven approach rather than a demand driven one has been pursued. Time, speed, costs and flexibility are reasons why people prefer bicycles over a motorbike or public transport. Environmental concern is not an issue for NMT-users in developing countries. In various studies the bicycle appeared to be considered as a sustainable mode of transport by users. However, bicycles are perceived by non-users as hampering the smooth flow of motorised vehicles and contribute little to mobility in the city. Cycling has a low status in most cities and is regarded in some as a vehicle for men only.
Rapid motorisation is a well observed phenomenon in developing cities. The repercussions of this were disadvantageous, affecting the vulnerable road users such as the cyclists, pedestrians, children and disabled people. (Sustainable Urban Transport Project, Asia, 2006).
In an article by Santhosh Kodukula, (Project Assistant, Sustainable Urban Transport Project, Bangkok, Thailand, 2007) it is made clear why all countries and not only the developing ones need to pay extra attention to Non Motorised Transport.
The car oriented planning approach has either forced some of these groups from using the road or encouraged them to use a private vehicle for a trip that was fulfilled earlier by a short walk or ride. It has been widely seen and proven in various developed cities that car oriented development is not going to make the community or the city more vibrant but make the city "inorganic".
On the other hand, making a city for people by effectively encouraging Non Motorised Transport (NMT) and other options would make it more liveable and improve the quality of life. Several planners and mayors recognise NMT as just another means of travel but are unaware of various (direct and indirect) benefits. Some of them are described below:
Increased Safety: Planning for NMT will increase the safety for vulnerable groups, as they are often the victims of road accidents. Most of these accidents happen while crossing the road. It has to be noted that solutions such as pedestrian bridges would not improve things as people often feel it tiring to climb up and down flights of steps just to cross the road. In many cases people try to avoid using these bridges. NMT oriented planning includes traffic calming and hence reduces the speeds of cars in neighbourhoods making them more liveable and safe for all road users.
Economically Viable: This is a very intricate outcome which is often overseen. Increasing the pedestrian and cycling options in a commercial area attracts more customers and increases the sales volumes, property and rental values in the area. A German study in 331 pedestrian areas revealed that 83% of the firms within the area reported an increase in turnover while only 24% firms outside the area reported an increase. Another study in Khao San Road, Bangkok revealed that 47% of the retailers agreed that their sales volumes increased.
Environmental Friendly: NMT is the cleanest mode of travel. Walking and cycling do not emit any emissions or pollute while being used when compared to the cars.
Health Benefits: Cycling and walking provide aerobic exercise and hence protect participants from heart diseases, obesity and diabetes. For instance, walking and cycling to work every day could substitute daily exercise at a gym.
Transport Options: People using NMT for work would have more travel options than just driving a car. For example, they can take a walk or a bike ride to the public transport station, park their bicycle in the station, and go to work. This reduces the increased use of car travel and bolsters the efficiency of public transport.