TEPR  Projects: Cycling and cycling jobs

Increasing the modal share of cycling has multiple potential benefits. For the individual, there are the potential health benefits from regular active travel. In urban areas, if a significant proportion of motorised trips can be replaced by cycling trips, more cycling can contribute to better air quality and lower CO2 emissions and noise from transport. In return, urban areas can be designed as places for people, thus improving the quality of life for all.

Local authorities have the potential to take a proactive approach to delivering the benefits associated with cycling by learning from good practice elsewhere.

TEPR has worked on a project for the European Commission to develop:

• Guidance for cycling projects in the EU, which developed guidelines to support local authorities in the EU with the implementation of cycling measures and infrastructure. It involved a review and synthesis of existing guidelines, as well as a number of city case studies. TEPR was responsible for the case studies on Copenhagen, Brussels, La Rochelle and Brighton. The guidance complements the SUMP Guidance on cycling, which was published in October 2019.

Investing in cycling also has the potential to increase the number of jobs associated with cycling. These jobs, and the skills needed to do them, can be varied.

Ian Skinner of TEPR has undertaken work on the jobs associated with cycling, and with walking and public transport more generally, for UN Environment, WHO and UNECE, in the context of the Transport, Health and Environment Pan European Programme (THE PEP):

• Riding towards the green economy: Cycling and green jobs, which involved a review of methodologies used to assess the number of jobs associated with cycling, engagement with cities and regions around Europe, and quantitative analysis. An article based on this report was subsequently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
• Unlocking new opportunities: Jobs in green and healthy transport, which was based on a literature review and some simple statistical analysis.

Ian Skinner of TEPR is currently on the board of Act TravelWise, which aims to promote sustainable transport in the UK.