"Studies have shown that a mere 10% shift from car drivers to bike riders has resulted in a 40% reduction in traffic congestion. Even if you never touch an e-bike, you would benefit from supporting their increased use."
https://electrek.co/2023/08/22/electric-bike-craze-future-of-transportation/
@TheWarOnCars I was curious about the study being referenced and it actually talks about motorcycles, not necessarily ebikes.
"If 10% of all private cars are replaced by motorcycles, the total time loss for all vehicles decreases by 40%."
https://www.tmleuven.be/en/project/motorcyclesandcommuting#!%23collapseOne
@tk @TheWarOnCars @tylerb it sounds like the key is this is simulated and assumes that when cars are dead stopped that motorcycles will all lane split and that then they will have zero impact on traffic congestion.
Plus they have less density than a car and tend to travel closer to the vehicle in front of them (in the simulation).
All added up to the gains reported.
@tk @TheWarOnCars @tylerb that’s a factor, though I don’t know if that was part of the simulation.
I think ultimately the 10% change generates a 40% benefit is more about reducing traffic below a tipping point.
This was in 2011 so I wonder if 12 years later if this has been reproduced with other more advanced simulations or other field studies.
@tylerb @tk @TheWarOnCars 1) yes 2) also yes, but the author basically says “when congestion happens, these vehicles disappear” which would mean the numbers hold up for any actions that remove a car from the road. I think it’s actually plausible that a “bike model” would expect to see larger gains.
10% -> 40% is still a fairly large claim and the paper didn’t (unless I missed it in my skim) devote much room to explaining where that seemingly outsized impact could come from.
The War on Cars
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