Estimated Cost Savings of 10 Percent of People Riding Bikes: $24 Trillion

Bobby Magill reports: "The climate would benefit in a big way if urban commuters worldwide would leave their cars at home and use those dedicated bike lanes to cycle to work, and if more cities would prioritize bike commuting in their urban planning, according to a University of California-Davis report [pdf] published Thursday."

More specifically: "Greenhouse gas emissions coming from motor vehicles in big cities worldwide would dive about 11 percent, saving society $24 trillion in infrastructure and other costs between today and 2050 if city dwellers would use bicycles and electric bikes for about 10 percent of their urban trips instead of using motor vehicles, the report says."

Magill quotes Lewis Fulton, co-author of the study, who says that the report is the first to quantify "the potential carbon dioxide and cost savings associated with a worldwide shift toward much greater use of cycling in urban areas."

Complicating the widespread adoption of biking in different cities are disparate funding, infrastructure, and cultural challenges. Kevin Krizek, director of the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Environmental Design Building program, is quoted in the article saying that "Bicycling has widely varying social connotations in some cultures and painting it as a silver bullet that is irrespective of these cultures leaves a lot of distance to cover..." The article surveys more acadmics, including those unaffiliated with the study, for their opinions on the feasibility of such an ambitious goal for mode share.