City Lab 2015 Thumb

Converting street parking into cycle lanes

There is an excellent article from CityLab March in 2015, which is a summary of twelve studies done on this question. In case you don’t have time to read it, the recurring themes across the studies it mentions are

  • That businesses consistently overestimate how many of their customers come by car, and underestimate how many come by other modes of transport such as bike, bus, and foot.
  • That those coming by other modes than the car come to the shops more often and so their total spend can be more than the businesses perceive.
  • Shoppers will spend more time (and therefore money) in a more pleasant environment, with wider pavements, less traffic noise. This is more important to shoppers than on street parking.
  • There are more empty shops on streets with higher traffic flows. Slower traffic can be better for businesses since cars see the shops, it is easier to pull out of the traffic and find a parking space, and it is a more enjoyable environment when out of the car.

City Lab 2015 Business Case