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

The active mode of transport is good for health as well as it is one of the most important modes of sustainable transport. In many previous studies/reports, a cost-benefit analysis for new infrastructure is provided; however, it rarely includes the benefits due to physical activity. The present study attempts to quantify the benefits of 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. The average cycling duration is 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. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.