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Does simply having a bike-friendly city encourage cycling? Turns out, the answer is yes.

天美mv天美 health sciences professor Meghan Winters and a team of researchers studied 24 cities across Canada and the United States and found there was a link between the cities' 鈥淏ike Score鈥� and the number of cycling journeys to work.

Bike Score, which Winters helped develop, measures whether a location is good for biking on a scale from 0鈥�100 based on three environmental components: bike lanes, hills and destinations, and road connectivity.

The study, the first to apply Bike Score, found that in neighbourhoods and cities where there was a higher average Bike Score, more people cycled to work.

With every 10-unit increase in Bike Score there were, on average, 0.5 per cent more people cycling to work. This is a meaningful difference given the overall low prevalence of cycling in North American cities, which typically accounts for one to two 2 per cent of trips.

鈥淎cross all cities, including in Vancouver, we found there is higher cycling where there is more and higher quality cycling routes, fewer hills, and more destinations and amenities,鈥� Winters says.

鈥淢unicipalities may not be able to change topography, but this work demonstrates cycling routes support more active travel. In particular, Bike Score may be useful as an indicator for city planners.鈥�

In Vancouver, a city that has invested heavily into cycling infrastructure in the past decade, neighbourhoods with a 10-unit higher Bike Score had 0.8 per cent higher cycling mode share for work trips.

Higher levels of active travel have been shown to be associated with lower traffic fatality risk, higher levels of physical activity, and lower rates of obesity and diabetes.

鈥淢ore thoughtful urban design that encourages active transportation can create healthier communities,鈥� says Winters. 鈥淭his study confirms and quantifies what we鈥檙e seeing anecdotally in Vancouver and other cities regarding people鈥檚 cycling behaviour.鈥�

Winters adds the City of Vancouver鈥檚 recent acquisition of the Arbutus Corridor lands from the Canadian Pacific Railway could improve Bike Score in parts of the city.

The corridor, which the city has identified for a future greenway, travels through low-scoring neighbourhoods where there isn鈥檛 as much cycling infrastructure.

鈥淚nvestments like the Arbutus greenway would change Bike Scores and this research brings evidence of a link between Bike Score and cycling rates."