In Ontario, Canada, Premier Doug Ford continues his war on bike lanes, and no doubt will continue to ignore studies which show how effective they are at getting people on to bikes. The latest links low-stress bicycle facilities and increased bicycle commuting, and was recently published in Nature Cities.

The study found that “stress-free” protected bike lanes attracted 1.8 times as many riders as painted but unprotected bike lanes, and 4.3 times as many riders compared to no bike lane at all. “Protected bicycle lane mileage installed was significantly associated with bicycle commuter increases 52.5% stronger than standard bicycle lane mileage and 281.2 % stronger than shared-lane marking mileage,” according to the study.

The study also notes: “Cities that seek to boost bicycle commute mode shifts should focus on implementing low-stress bicycle facilities if they want to best facilitate the sizable population of less-confident potential riders. Although higher bicycle mode share is not necessarily an end in itself, it could help cities to lower fuel consumption, emissions and transportation costs while providing more mobility options to a greater percentage of the population along with better health outcomes and better safety for bicyclists and nonbicyclist road users alike.”

They also tried to answer the question: “are bicycle facilities causing the high levels of bicycle commuting observed, or are bicycle facilities being installed in areas with high preexisting levels of bicycle commuting?” Which came first, the bikes or the bike lanes? They concluded that the bike lanes caused the growth, proving Brent Toderian’s dictum that you need to build the infrastructure first.

“As cities’ commitments to promoting sustainable transportation through biking continue to evolve with more mature bicycle facilities and expanding bicycle networks, results of this study suggest more nuance to the old mantra ‘Build it, and they will come’ by unveiling a link between lower-stress bicycle facilities and larger increases in bicycle commuting.”

I like the study’s emphasis on “stress-free” cycling. Young fit males on bikes may feel comfortable riding in traffic but I don’t anymore, and cycling site Road.cc points to a report: Barriers and enablers of bike riding for transport and recreational purposes in Australia, finding “that women were less comfortable with the idea of cycling near traffic, and would be encouraged by segregated cycle lanes.”

I covered that study for Treehugger shortly before I was laid off, long before Doug Ford started tearing things up, and before I spent a day cycling in Melbourne, the focus of the study, so it is worth another look.

The single biggest finding is that people are afraid of being squished by cars.

“Consistent with previous literature, over half of the sample reported barriers that related to physical separation between people riding cars and motor vehicle traffic. These included not wanting to ride on the road with motor vehicle traffic, concern about collision with a motor vehicle and concerns about motorist aggression.”

The other side of this study is the look at enablers—about what encourages people to ride bikes. They want to ride to improve their physical and mental health, reduce their environmental impact, and save money, but what would enable them to do this is a physically separated bike lane. I wrote in Treehugger:

“The study concludes that people want to ride but are afraid to. It broke the respondents up into groups, and even 60.6% of “strong and fearless/enthused and confident” riders said a physically separated bike lane would encourage them to ride more. Among the “interested but concerned” prospects, the biggest group in the survey, 73.9%, put the bike lanes as the top enabler. So it’s clear that if a goal is to get more people on bikes, to move them from “interested but concerned” to “enthused and confident,” you need proper physically separated bike lanes.”

But Doug Ford doesn’t care about people who want to improve their health, reduce their environmental impact or save money. He only cares about people who drive; everyone else is just roadkill.

This substack post by Lloyd Alter is republished at The Energy Mix with his permission.