First response to most everyone reading is likely ‘no shit sherlock’ – and I realize this is preaching to the choir, but for real take a gander at this article (or hell, read all three of them as she makes points I was making a long while ago) by Elly Blue. In it she makes an economics based statement that increasing cycling infrastructure in a city actually SAVES money, to a tune of $5 saved for every $1 spent.
Think about that for a minute. $5 saved for every $1 spent. How long would it take to see those kinds of returns in the stock market at it’s historical average return of ~7%? What about in the housing market (assuming, of course, an asset decreasing in value could make you money). If someone said for every dollar you spend they will give you five in return you bet your ass you’d spend every dollar you had as quick as you could!
The big surprise here is where the biggest chunk of savings comes from. Sure, the immediately obvious (fuel costs) makes up a portion. However, the biggest chunk of savings comes from the reduction of health care costs and the value of reduced mortality. She points out some interesting statistics such as
Most of the money we’re spending on health care is going to treat preventable chronic diseases,” Michael Pollan told Grist in 2009. Our poor diet, he added, is responsible for most of those illnesses.
The last line is massively obvious to anybody who has visited their local Walmart or Costco at anytime since 1986, but the first part is interesting. She also quotes a paper by Thomas Gotschi, showing that “A recent analysis of the health savings resulting from the bicycle infrastructure in Portland, Ore, came up with stunning results. If the city builds out only the infrastructure it currently plans, the researcher found, it will break even by 2015. By 2030, Portland will have saved $800 million.”
Insane.
To be sure, Levitt and Dubner will likely come out with research trying to disprove, showing that in fact it’s not the cycling that is causing the health gains in Portland but rather the lack of jobs, and that unemployment leads to happiness. Until, check out Elly’s article and tell us what you think.
Oh yeah, and if you’re not convinced that cycling can lead to a healthier lifestyle maybe check out this book over at Rivendell.
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