The benefits of bicycling through the fields : Calculating the effects of an increased bicycle commuting scenario in a Swedish rural setting on transport related societal costs

Abstract: Bicycling as a form of active transport has been gaining in popularity amongst policy makers and urban planners. In many cities, it is seen as a beneficial and efficient transport alternative to the congesting and air polluting car. Besides that, bicycling has also shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, noise and come with a range of health benefits when done regularly. Despite studies showing the individual and societal benefits of bicycling in an urban context, there is a lack of literature on how these benefits translate to a rural setting, characterised by longer distances and lower volumes of travellers. A commuting route between Östersund and Krokom was taken to study this. A cost-benefits analysis was performed for this route in which the transport related societal costs were calculated for a hypothetical increased bicycling scenario on this route and compared to the costs of a status quo scenario with no bicycling. Results show significant bicycle related costs such as travel time, and accidents, but also benefits compared to the car such as health and low operating costs. The environmental benefits are relatively small. Due to the results of the study covering a wide range, no conclusion could be drawn on if the studied rural bicycling scenario would be desirable or not. Conservative estimates indicate extra societal costs, while bicycle favouring estimates indicate cost savings.