Joe Mizzi
It is common knowledge that cycling is beneficial to society and to a country in many ways. Research shows that the benefits of cycling must be considered holistically to enable a full understanding of its potential.
Cycling, as a mode of transport, contributes to better health, reduces congestion and lowers pollution. It has other related benefits, which include increased tourism, an improved quality of life and reduced social exclusion.
Cycling has a positive impact that is valid across policy areas in transport, health, the economy and the environment.
In recent years, there has been an increase in awareness related to obesity, particularly among children. Besides the related medical costs, obesity reduces both the quality and the longevity of life.
Cycling to school, to work, for short trips or for fun is an ideal way to encourage physical activity within the daily routine. The main reasons for inactivity in adults are modern life and the increase in car ownership, which has resulted in a sharp drop in bicycle trips.
Physical activity improves physical and mental health and reduces absences from work, thus contributing to higher rates of productivity.
The increase in carbon emissions is widely accepted as contributing to climate change and traffic is one of the major sources of carbon emissions. Such emissions contribute to reduced air quality and increased greenhouse gases. These have an adverse impact on human health, biodiversity, the built environment, the cultural heritage, local microclimate and global climate.
Cycling uses minimal fossil fuels and it is a mode of transport that does not generate any pollution. It is more energy efficient and uses less resources than when using the car as a mode of travel. Cycling 10 kilometres to and from work every day instead of using a car would save about 750 kilos of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
The potential benefits of cycling should be maximised by addressing the beneficial outcomes as a whole across different policy areas
Increased commuter cycling reduces traffic at peak periods, eases pressure on other forms of transport and also shortens travel times. This is mostly effective where the encouragement of cycling is part of a wider group of transport measures. The time savings of cycling are considerable for users and make cycling a viable competitive model of travel, especially in the urban context and not just to improve health.
Bicycles are more affordable to maintain than a car. About 10 per cent of the world’s population can afford to purchase and maintain a car, however, about 80 per cent can afford a bicycle.
It is important to mention that cycling is an economic and independent mode of travel for those who would otherwise have restrictions on their choice of travel mode. Cycling offers increased mobility to groups of the population with low rates of car ownership and those under 18 years of age.
From a social aspect, cycling enables improved interaction and a sense of belonging to a town and a sense of community.
Unlike other forms of transport, cycling can achieve all the benefits outlined above. Walking does provide health, social and environmental benefits, however, unlike cycling, it is not a realistic replacement for trips exceeding four kilometres, especially where time is a key factor.
Increased use of public transport reduces traffic congestion and pollution but it does not offer the flexibility and health benefits of cycling.
The challenge is to maximise the potential benefits of cycling by addressing the beneficial outcomes as a whole across different policy areas. Works are in hand to prepare the first cycling strategy for the Maltese islands, which will set targets to be reached and practical and realistic measures that can be implemented on the short, medium and long term, which are intended to encourage cycling through improved safety, awareness and road infrastructure.
Joe Mizzi is Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.
Jim Wightman
The answer to that question is a resounding yes. In various studies, cycling has been shown to be not only a faster way for people to move around congested cities but, by swapping even a small number of cars for bicycles, one also helps to boost traffic flow. Right now, in Malta, one person on a bicycle commuting to work is doing far more to move car traffic than one person sitting in a car in a traffic jam, particularly where that car has four empty seats.
On an individual level, study after study show that the benefits of cycling outweigh the risks by a massive 19 to one.
But cycling delivers much more than individual benefits; those benefits are social as well. For example, this weekend sees the end of Paragon Europe’s Bike-to-Work campaign. This campaign saw just 300 of Malta’s commuting cyclists join a scheme to promote this mode of transport as bike-to-work ambassadors over a period of two weeks.
While that number may seem small, that’s not so far off the capacity of the proposed Mosta car park or offsetting the number of new cars coming onto our streets in a week.
Clearly, that helps to make car use a little more sustainable and, importantly, pushes back the date when the government is forced to do something far more drastic and unpleasant for car users like raise congestion charges or other road pricing deterrents.
With a potential 35:1 return, cycling might be just what Maltese taxpayers, people on bicycles and even car drivers are waiting for
Understanding this is important because selling the benefits of cycling to car drivers and other sectors of society has become a signature tune of bicycle advocacy and the lyrics are all about creating livable and profitable cities.
So much so that the United Nations recently published a report recommending that governments should ring-fence at least 20 per cent of their transport budgets for both cycling and walking as active transport modes.
The key term is active transport and cycling increases the range and delivers far more ‘bang for your buck’. Importantly, collectively the return on those benefits to society are big. Really big.
Reducing pollution is pretty obvious but the real savings come in reduced congestion and improved public health. Of these, 80 per cent are directly linked to reduced healthcare costs. People who cycle to work are fitter and far less likely to develop obesity, diabetes, heart disease and various forms of cancer related to inactive lifestyles. That means less strain on the taxpayer.
With 42 per cent of readers of the Times of Malta in a poll of 7,953 saying they would cycle if conditions were better, that’s potentially 3,340 fitter healthier people. Doubling that to the government’s very modest two per cent modal share target could see those savings paying for something like the Kappara flyover project (for free) in just seven years. But, importantly, this could also save 15 lives a year and make countless more, not to mention our cities simply more livable.
If cities are livable, people stick around more and spend more, so it boosts the economy too. With its short distances, which could be made shorter with the right infrastructure, Malta is no hotter or hillier than any other southern European country. Not only is that infrastructure 20 times less expensive than road building, a lot of that infrastructure is already there.
Taking far less space than, say, a tram line and certainly easier to overtake, bicycle commuting is less digging than an underground and can reach all the places a monorail or metro never will. Importantly it’s also the easiest way to reach those new mass transport nodes.
But it needs to be a precursor not an afterthought and, with a potential 35:1 return, cycling might be just what Maltese taxpayers, people on bicycles and even car drivers are waiting for.
Jim Wightman is PRO, Bicycle Advocacy Group Malta.