The Value of Cycling. Acknowledging Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro. Background and introduction. Context of Cycling in Rio de Janeiro

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1 The Value of Cycling Acknowledging Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro Background and introduction How can we develop the transport systems in our ever more busy cities in such a way that accessibility is improved while at the same time congestion and stress on the environment are reduced? This is a key question that many cities including Rio de Janeiro are grappling with and for which no easy answers can be found. One such answer may well be cycling. Cycling is rapidly gaining importance in policy discussions on sustainable transport. It contributes to reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and slows the fast growing motorisation of transport in many regions worldwide, including most urban regions of Latin America. Cycling can provide a number of clear benefits: it is efficient, particularly at the short to medium distances, it is active and healthy, it provides for door-to-door transport (e.g. home school, work home), it is relatively cheap (also in terms of the costs of infrastructure) and therefore it has the potential to contribute to mobility of the poorer segments of society. It is the most environmentally friendly transport mode, with zero emissions. Notwithstanding these benefits, cycling has largely remained an unrecognized mode of travel with an image of inferiority. In many cities, a number of key factors such as general lack of dedicated cycling infrastructure, (perceived) long travel distances -whereas many trips have cycleable distances- limited affordability and unsafe cycling conditions, have so far prevented most of those who considered to cycle from doing so. Consequently in most cities, cycling is characterized by a low modal share, while cycling often doesn t represent an attractive alternative for the majority of people. This is our key challenge: making sure that cycling is an attractive mode for a large section of the population for their daily travel. To achieve this, it is essential to design cycling inclusive urban transport policies, acknowledging the different manifestations and characteristics of cycling per region, country and city. How can we make cycling attractive? What can we learn from countries where cycling is big? One such country, the Netherlands, is arguably the most successful in cycling as a mature utilitarian mode of transport. With an average cycling modal share of 27% of all trips made (up to 50% in some cities), cycling is an important mode that contributes significantly to a more sustainable transport system. What are some of its success factors and can these be promoted to other contexts like Rio de Janeiro? To name the most important ones: a culture of cycling, high quality cycling infrastructure often integrated with public transport-, compact cities, high levels of bicycle ownership and high traffic safety. These factors are present in most Dutch cities; however we do find different levels of success. Recent research suggests that two key explanations can be given for these differences: Cycling flourishes in cities with (1) continued and consistent attention for cycling in transport policy development; and (2) integration of cycling planning within transport and urban spatial planning as a whole (Fietsberaad, 2009), particularly at the municipal level. In Rio de Janeiro, a lot is happening with regard to sustainable mobility. In this leaflet, we present some results of a demonstration project in which the effects of various cycling policy interventions are evaluated on GHG reduction and accessibility. Context of Cycling in Rio de Janeiro Current bicycle possession is quite high in Brazil (on average 1 out of 3.5 persons possesses a bike), but the use is not very high yet. In Rio de Janeiro, some 3-4% of trips were made by bicycle in Contrary to the Netherlands, the bike is seen as a sports article rather Value of cycling 1

2 than as a vehicle for utilitarian trips. Cycling therefore has a positive image, fitting well with the active life style of the cariocas, but not for daily use. Rio de Janeiro is very active in promoting the use of the bicycle and aspires to become the cycling capital of Brazil. This image of the city fits very well with the international importance of Rio as the city of the sustainable development summits of 1992 and 2012 and as the city of the major global sports events of World Cup football and the Olympic Games. A variety of initiatives has been developed in recent years to get more people to cycle. Examples are the development of new cycling infrastructure, the integration of cycling with public transport, like the SuperVIA bicycle parking at stations, permission to take bicycles in the train on Sundays, and a new public bike scheme that is being rolled out at the moment. All these initiatives support the increasing recognition of the bicycle as a healthy and personal means of transportation. It is potentially more difficult to promote the role of cycling for utilitarian trips. The relatively varied offer of affordable public transport services allows all groups of society to reach most destinations without too many problems. Besides, the concentration of dedicated cycling infrastructure in the south of the city makes cycling still cumbersome and unsafe in other parts of Rio de Janeiro. Interventions To be able to get a better insight into the full potential of cycling in Rio de Janeiro, we have analyzed the effects of several policy interventions that have been implemented in the past, are being implemented at the moment, or are under discussion. Once the effects of particular interventions are known, the usefulness of a particular intervention, or set of interventions can be assessed and priorities established. The choices of interventions were made on the basis of a workshop in Rio de Janeiro with local stakeholders who gathered to explore ideas and desires for stimulating bicycle transportation. Numerous ways to enhance bike transportation were discussed, out of which 3 interventions have been selected: Expanding the bicycle network The public bike system Job relocation policy Expanding the bicycle network This intervention deals with the expansion of the current network that is exclusively devoted to cycling, the idea being that when cycling infrastructure is expanded, more people will find it attractive to choose the bicycle for their trip. This particular intervention often receives a great deal of political support in many cities and is usually one of the first interventions that is implemented to promote cycling. In large agglomerations such as Rio, it is a challenge to provide sufficient infrastructure to allow people to use the bicycle as a real alternative for their trips. Ideally, such infrastructure should be developed as a network that is safe, coherent, direct, comfortable and attractive (the five main principles of bicycle design commonly adhered to in the Netherlands) and that links the origins and destinations of trips of potential cyclists. It will take time and stamina before such network can be developed in a situation like Rio. In Rio, until 2004, about 140 km of bicycle infrastructure had been constructed. Most of the existing infrastructure dates back to the 1990s. Considering the cities vast extension, the bicycle network is still small and runs mostly alongside the beaches, privileging richer neighborhoods in the Southern part of Rio. Currently there are extensive plans to expand the bicycle infrastructure. The expansion concerns an additional 150 km of bicycle lanes (see Figure 1) and is planned to connect public transport services as well as current bicycle lanes presenting a more complete network. Figure 1: Current and planned bicycle infrastructure and Public Bike Stations. Source: Google Earth The public bike system The introduction of public bike systems has proven successful in many cities in Europe and Asia and is now one of the key sustainable transport policies in cities world-wide. Public bicycles are popular and attract users that would normally not cycle (at least not for a utilitarian purpose). Public bicycle systems can fulfill different mobility functions such as mobility for residents in their direct trips, as access and egress to public transport, and as mobility for tourists. The Rio Public Bicycle System is relatively new (2008) and still limited in size. Initially, the program is composed of approximately sixty stations containing 600 bikes that are mainly distributed throughout the South (East) Zone of the city. In the coming period until 2016, marking the Olympic Games, the public bike system will be expanded to various areas in the city. Job relocation This intervention focuses on the relocation of employment in Rio de Janeiro. The idea behind such policy is to distribute employment and services more homogeneously over the city. This spatial planning oriented intervention allows for local accessibility to improve and trip distances to shorten, making them potentially more attractive by bicycle. Most employment is currently concentrated in the historic and financial centre of the city. Some of the largest companies in Brazil have their head offices here. It is a key attractor of trips. The South Zone is the richest region of the city and also offers a lot of employment. The North and Northwest zones have recently exhibited economic growth. The Southwest zone is the most recently modernized region of Rio de Janeiro. New industrial enterprises are being built in contemporary lower and lower-middle class residential areas. The scenario that is based on discussions with the local stakeholders is based on the idea that 30% of the current jobs in the zones with the highest employment density may be replaced to other areas, particularly in the Northwest and West zones. Metrics of Transport Sustainability The interaction between land use and transport is highly complex. Everything that happens to land use has transport implications and vice versa. Urban development generates travel, and travel generates the need for new facilities, which in turn affects accessibility and may attract further development. These interconnections are particularly vivid in a city like Rio de Janeiro where rapid urbanization and urban restructuring are transforming the urban area. At the same time urban infrastructure is being reshaped in response to fast economic growth and the planned mega-events in the city. Sustainable transport policy can only be effective if it manages to thrive in this complex reality. Transport modeling and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) provide a platform to calculate metrics of transport sustainability in response to different proposed interventions, i.e. the cycling-related interventions proposed in this study on the completion of a bicycle infrastructure network, improved integration of bicycle and public transport, jobs relocation etc. In this study the following two metrics have been developed to study the impact of cycling interventions: (1) the levels of accessibility of the different social-economic groups in the city as an indicator of social inclusion; and (2) the climate value of cycling as an indicator of carbon mitigation potential of cycling projects. Metric 1: Accessibility as a Measure of Social Inclusion Accessibility is a fundamental measure of the benefits of urban life. In essence, it measures the end benefit of the integrated transportation and land use system: how many destinations (generally jobs but also shops, schools, entertainment, and recreation facilities) can be accessed in a given time (or cost) using a given mode of transport. Increasing accessibility bringing people, opportunities and goods within easy reach of each other has always been the fundamental role of cities. To date, simplified infrastructure-focused mobility indicators (typical mobility metrics that focus on travel speeds and modal splits alone) have generally been used in most analyses, as they are easy to understand, measure, and communicate. However, from the perspective of households and firms, the transport system itself is not important its importance is that it provides them with access to spatially and temporally dispersed opportunities. Accessibility metrics that consider this give planners the opportunity to use 2 Value of cycling Value of cycling 3

3 it as a policy design tool. For politicians, citizens and firms it may be easier to discuss the quality of access to services and markets than to discuss the inefficiencies of the transport system (Straatemeijer, 2008; Groenendijk et al., 2003). Furthermore, accessibility metrics allow distinguishing between social-economic groups, hence studying social inclusion. In addition, the recent advances in GIS make the use of high quality visualizations possible that can be more readily used and understood by planners, policy makers, and the general public. The rapid development of these tools is a benefit for all those interested in understanding the complex interactions that take place in cities. Metric 2: Climate Value of Cycling as a Measure of Carbon Mitigation Potential Assessing the carbon impact of cycling is, ironically, complicated, due to the fact that cycling has an intrinsic zero-emission value. Attributing direct carbon benefits is therefore difficult. However, there are known but often only marginal CO2 reduction effects of bicycle projects. In most cases these are a result of the relatively small scale of the project such as the improvement of a single bicycle corridor. City-wide cycling levels are thought to significantly avoid levels of CO2 emissions. Therefore, the climate value of cycling (CVoC) metric has been developed to represent the total amount of avoided CO2 emissions by all bicycle trips, which represents the opportunity costs of each bicycle trip in the study area. The CVoC is calculated based on a prediction of the most likely alternative (substitution) mode for each bicycle trip and the calculation of the additional CO2 emissions for that trip by the alternative mode. The CVoC thus represents a risk value. In areas with a relatively high CVoC (total, per capita or per kilometre), failure to maintain the current level of cycling will probably lead to a relatively higher level of CO2 emissions, because in these areas trip lengths by bicycle may be relatively long and are thus more likely to be substituted by motorized vehicles, as compared to areas with a low CVoC. The policy relevance of attributing a climate value to cycling is very high since the bicycle has always been positioned and used as the icon for sustainable climate policies but until very recently not as a contributor to emission reduction targets (Huizenga, 2009; Sakamoto et al., 2010). Accessibility and Climate Mitigation Potential of Cycling in Rio Any transport study relies heavily on the availability of spatial data on activity locations, household incomes, infrastructure as well as behavioural data on trip making and people s preferences and choices. Collecting such data is a very cumbersome task and requires lots of resources, and given current growth, figures are BOX 1: Accessibility to Jobs in The Netherlands Accessibility metrics explicitly combine opportunities, such as job opportunities, with the difficultyof travel (expressed as a generalized cost). Typical measures are the cumulative opportunities (or contour) measures that, for example, measure the number of jobs within 30 minutes by bicycle from the origin location, and the potential measure (or gravity measure) that discounts these opportunities over time (or distance), typically using a distance-decay function. This is done to count an opportunity closer by as more important than at a distant location. These indicatorsare a measure for (1) the effectiveness of the transport system, i.e. the ability to reach employment areas, service locations, centre areas etc; and (2) for the availability of services, i.e. securing a geographical match between resource allocation and resource needs. In the Dutch national accessibility mapping project Goudappel Group and partners developed such cumulative opportunity maps for example for job based opportunities in the Randstad area (including the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague) comparing levels of accessibility between bicycle, integrated public transport and car, see Figures below. These results have also been used to compare with accessibility in the fast growing city of Hanoi, Vietnam in (Ha et al. 2011). Figure: Morning peak hour accessibility to jobs by PT (top) and Car (bottom) in the Randstad area (2010). From the maps it becomes clear that accessibility to jobs by bicycle within cities is comparable to that by car due to high quality bicycle network and priorities for cycling, while in between Dutch cities, Public Transport (PT) provides the best accessibility (where cycling provides a prominent role in access and egress). For more information: BOX 2: The CVoC in Dutch cities The concept of the Climate Value of Cycling (CVoC) has been applied by the University of Twenteto 437 cities in The Netherlands using longitudinal mobility survey data. The CVoC is dependent on the amount of cycling mobility in the case study area, the competitive relation of the bicycle with the other modes and mode specific CO2 emission factors. Application of the CVoC concept to Dutch cities has shown that cycling in all 437 municipalities together avoids 1.41 Mtons of CO2 emissions for the whole year. The analysis furthermore shows that some cities with a high cycling modal share have a low CVoC, because cycling trip lengths are relatively short and a well-established public transport system is available, implying substitution by walking or public transport. Combining the CVoC level with the cycling modal share allows the allocation of risk levels of transport unsustainability and describes appropriate policy responses. The unit CVoC, indicating the induced CO2 emissions of losing one kilometer cycling trip, can be used as a measure of the sustainability of the non-cycling part of the system, see Figure below. Cities with a low unit CVoC and a high bicycle share seem to be at lowest risk of becoming less sustainable in terms of transport related CO2 emissions. Figure: Unit CVoC of Cities in The Netherlands The model provides an intuitive, straightforward approach, which allows urban planners, politicians and scientists to assess the value of current cycling mobility based on minimal input data and with minimal transport modelling knowledge. It assists in the redefinition of urban mobility planning by demonstrating the value of avoided CO2 emissions that cycling and non-motorized transport intrinsically provide. This metrics has for example been used in (Massink et al. 2011) for the city Bogotá, Colombia. For more information: outdated upon publication. In this study we therefore concentrate on developing a transport model and sustainability metrics that can showcase the magnitude and extent of the impacts of bicycle related measures rather than trying to predict the exact values. The required detailed input data for such exercise anyhow don t exist for Rio de Janeiro. For this study the integrated transport modelling platform OmniTRANS has been used, which is designed to model multi-modal transport systems, including the integration of bicycles with public transport. The tool also has a modelling engine that allows for implementation ofthe two metrics needed for this study. With help of the Prefeitura Rio Meio Ambiente and others, the model was populated with available data and proxies. The study area is the Metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro. In this area, about 20 million trips per day are made. Public transport (buses, trains, metro) are the main modes, followed by Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) trips and cars. The majority of NMT trips are walking trips, while only 3-4% of the trips are by bicycle.the modelling platform has been used to reproduce the baseline transport situation for the city as best as possible, representing the metropolitan area in 486 zones, using four main modes (car, bike, public transport, walking). Public transport consists of the urban railway system, metro, ferries, buses and the recently opened teleferico. Bicycle infrastructure is modelled distinguishing bike lanes, roads open for cycling and the latest public bicycle system. The bicycle is modelled as a main mode as well as an access and egress mode for public transport, similar to the way walking is modelled. The model parameters are representative for the morning peak hour.most model parameters have been derived from the PDTU transport study 2005, where possible updated to 2012 figures. Levels of accessibility have accordingly been calculated using 4 Value of cycling Value of cycling 5

4 Figure 2:Income distribution in (part of) the study area. Author s elaboration from IBGE census known job and population distributions throughout the metropolitan area. We distinguish the five income categories, classes A (rich) to E (poor), typically used in Brazil, see Figure 2 above. Population and income distribution data have been derived from the 2010 and 2000 Census. Generalized cost is a function of travel time and travel cost by mode and is also dependent on the social-economic class of the trip maker through the use of income-specific value of time (VOT) and value of distance (VOD) parameters. The transport model has been used to calculate CVoC and accessibility levels (both cumulative opportunities and potential opportunities). This allows for example for a comparative accessibility analysis between public transport and the bicycle revealing the image of Figure 3. Bluish and darker green areas indicate locations where the potential accessibility to jobs by bicycle is better than by public transport. Overall the map shows that both public transport and cycling provide levels of accessibility to jobs that are comparable, unlike the Table 1: Overview of scores per intervention or combination No. Intervention Bike share in modal split Total CO2 with bike Total CO2 without bike Figure 3: Level of potential accessibility public transport versus bicycle (middle income class C) car, which provides the highest level of job accessibility, even though congestion levels are high. Overall result The three interventions have been modelled and analyzed for a typical morning peak period. The results for the baseline case, interventions and two combinationsof interventions are summarized in Table 1. It is obvious from these results that cycling policy alone is not going to make a sea-change in carbon mitigation, but that in any case current levels of cycling avoid on average a 7-8% increase in carbon emissions in Rio de Janeiro based on the CVoC calculation. Two interventions are discussed in more detail below. Investing in the Public Bicycle Scheme Further investment in Rio s public bicycle scheme is expected to increase the share of cycling by almost 21% according to our model calculations. This is partly caused by the favourable conditions for bicycle access CVoC % decrease CO2 compare to baseline % increase CVoC compare to baseline 0 Baseline (no intervention) 4.2% 2,665,649 2,884, ,277 Tranport intervention 1 Bikeway extension 4.3% 2,668,547 2,884, , % -1.3% 2 Public bike scheme 5.1% 2,651,938 2,884, , % 6.3% Land use intervention 3 Job decentralization 4.8% 2,469,719 2,681, , % -3.5% Combinations of interventions 4 Combination of 1,2,3 6.0% 2,454,152 2,681, , % 3.6% 5 Combination of 1,2 5.4% 2,651,171 2,884, , % 6.6% Figure 4: Gain in potential accessibility to jobs by bicycle (middle income class C). Ratio combination scenario versus baseline scenario and egress to public transport stops as well as by the fact that good quality bicycle infrastructure is connected to the strategically located public bike stations. The CVoC value is increasing by 6.3% as compared to the baseline scenario indicating that a significant share of the new bicycle (and public transport) users of the scheme previously used motorized modes for their trip instead. Integrated Spatial and Transport Policy When combining the integrated transport policy interventions of cycling infrastructure and public bikes together with a change in land use, the share of cycling in modal split goes up to 6%. This is an increase in levels of cycling of almost 50%, so quite substantial. In this combination the climate value of cycling gains 3.6%, to get to an overall 10% compared to when people would not cycle at all. The gain in CVoC in this scenario is in fact lower than without applying the change in land use, however one should note that due to the change in land use the average trip length has already dropped, although this change does not affect the trip distances which are commonly travelled by bike. When putting more effort in adjusting spatial (land use) and transport policies (cycle paths, public bike scheme and integration of bikes with other transport modes), the average trip distances can be further decreased, thereby increasing the climate value of cycling. Furthermore, in this scenario as well as in the others, the level of potential accessibility to jobs has changed positively due to further expansion of the public bicycle scheme and favourable cycling conditions and job locations, which can be seen in Figure 4 when comparing with the baseline situation. Conclusions and recommendations In this demonstration project, we have analyzed alternative courses of action to promote cycling in the city of Rio de Janeiro and evaluated these on their effects on accessibility and carbon emissions. Of the three implemented interventions, the one that performed best was the public bike scheme intervention, which results in an increase of cycling trips by 21%, and 6.3% in the Climate Value of Cycling, while job accessibility levels have clearly increased as well. It is interesting to note that the cycling infrastructure intervention does not lead to a notable increase in cycling trips at the scale of the whole city (only 0.1 %). We cannot conclude from this that it is not useful to invest in cycling infrastructure, rather we can conclude that relatively local improvements in cycling infrastructure have a more local effect. If we aggregate to the level of the city as a whole, the effect may not be visible. This probably also means that more focus needs to be placed on the development of cycling infrastructure near PT hubs and in areas where many potential cyclists reside and more focus should be placed on daily travel patterns and the earlier mentioned demands of networking design. The best results are achieved when the key interventions are combined, leading to almost 50% of increase in the level of cycling to 6% of modal split. This result vouches the concept of cycling inclusive planning, which is built upon the premise that different mutually aligned interventions in the land use transport system as a whole provide for the best results. A key strategy for Rio de Janeiro to push forward with their cycling agenda is to concentrate on the integration of cycling and public transport, through a combination of interventions, both physical and non-physical and to show stamina. In doing so, we believe it is possible to raise the share of cycling from the current 4 % to 10% in the coming 20 years. This would be a major achievement. More information can be found on: 6 Value of cycling Value of cycling 7

5 Acknowledgements The project team wishes to acknowledge the Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro, departments of Meio Ambiente, IPP, SMTR/CET and CAU, Governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Department of Transport and Transport Ativo for their collaboration. References and further reading Fietsberaad (2009). Publicatie 7: Het fietsbeleid van de Europese toppers: langdurig en integraal. Available at: Accessed 10 June 2012.[in Dutch] Groenendijk, J.M., F. lecercqand L. Bertolini (2003). Bereikbaarheid als planningskader voor interventies in verkeer en vervoer. Report, Amersfoort/Amsterdam. [in Dutch] Hong Ha, P.T., Van den Bosch, F., Quang, N.N. and Zuidgeest, M.H.P. (2011) Urban form and accessibility to jobs: a comparison of Hanoi and Randstad Metropolitan areas. Environment and urbanization ASIA, 2(2011)2: Huizenga, C. (2009) Common Policy Framework on Transport and Climate Change. Available at: Accessed 10 May Massink, R., Zuidgeest, M.H.P., Rijnsburger, J., Sarmiento, O.L. and van Maarseveen, M.F.A.M., The Climate Value of Cycling.Natural Resources Forum, 35(2011)2: Straatemeier, T. (2008). How to plan for regional accessibility? Transport Policy, 15(2): Sakamoto, K., Dalkmann, H. and Palmer, D. (2010) A Paradigm Shift Towards Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport Financing the Vision ASAP, Report, Institute for Transport & Development Policy, New York, United States. Box 3: Partner descriptions The Goudappel Group is a leading consultant in The Netherlands in the field of mobility management. They are a worldwide supplier of transport modelling knowledge and transport planning software. ITC is the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth observation of the University of Twente. One of its areas of expertise is the planning and management of fast growing urban regions. Rio Prefeitura Meio Ambiente is the Municipal Environmental Secretary of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The Dutch Cycling Embassy is a public-private network organization consisting of public, private and social parties. It offers her expertise, services and cycling products worldwide to interested parties. / 8 Value of cycling