Cycling Economics

Cycling is increasingly receiving attention in research and policy and practice, in many cities and regions in the world. The focus is mainly on cycling infrastructure and effects on travel behavior and health. The economics of cycling have not received a lot of attention yet. This chapter gives an overview of the current state of knowledge about cycling economics. It shows that at first face the economics is straightforward, and is about the same as those of other transport (infrastructure) projects, but in practice there are several pitfalls which can easily result in flawed estimates of the costs and more so the benefits of cycling projects. The first problem is the lack of adequate models to estimate travel behavior related cycling effects, even in countries with a cycling tradition, like Denmark and the Netherlands. An important pitfall is that if the so-called safety-in-numbers effect is ignored (cycling becomes safer if cycling levels increase), risks and related costs will be overestimated. Another pitfall related to cycling is the use of national (or regional) aggregate risk factors—these do not necessarily apply to specific cases. In addition there is still a lot of uncertainty about the size (and monetary valuation) of health effects. And finally several effects categories are poorly understood and often ignored, in particular the option value, the impact on the attractiveness of the urban environment, and the impact of cycling on (the reduction of) social exclusion. These problems may not all be too important, because cycling projects are cheap, and often have a high benefit-cost ratio

Transport Modes and Accessibility

Accessibility by distinguished transport modes is probably the most important concept in transport geography and transport planning: it expresses that the transport system aims to provide access to places where people want to carry out activities. But it is also a concept for which many definitions and indicators are available, each characterized by their own pros and cons. This contribution discusses types of indicators and how to choose between indicators for as specific case. In addition, it explains that information and communication technology (ICT) increasingly plays a dominant role in people's life as far as (travel to) activities are concerned, and consequently the importance of ICT for accessibility analyses also increases. Finally, it presents several challenges for future research

3D Printers and Transport

3D printing (3DP) is an emerging technology associated with a more tailor-made, distributed way of manufacturing which, if successful, is bound to have repercussions on transport, supply chains, and logistics. This contribution delves into what 3DP is, how it will influence consumer wants and needs, location choices and transport resistance, and how it might impact society in terms of safety, accessibility and the environment. Based on these insights, the repercussions for the transport and logistics sector are discussed, as well as the nature and survival of firms in the value chain of many industries