Active mobility

Health benefits of active mobility include alleviating urban pressures, reduced energy consumption and production, and improved quality of life. Commonly active transport prevents the chances of fatal disease rooted from pollution and environmental issues. Active mobility improves health by decreasing air pollution from cars. However, negative health problems can arise from inactive and sedentary lifestyles. The US Centers for Disease Control recommends increasing access to active transportation. Multiple U.S. studies advocate for increased access to active transportation for everyone, including children, due to multiple health benefits. Sedentary people can lower their BMI by increasing physical activity. A House of Commons of the United Kingdom Health Committee report about Obesity in 2004 recommended cycling and walking as key components to combat obesity. Public Health England estimated in 2016 that in the UK, physical inactivity directly contributes to one in six deaths every year. The PHE report notes that walking and cycling daily is effective to increase physical activity and reduce levels of obesity, as well as prevent cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and several mental illnesses, including depression. Cyclists and walkers perceive their environment differently than people driving in cars because cars block sensory inputs that active mobility exposes. Proponents of active mobility assert that activities like cycling and walking promote a feeling of community and connection, improving mental health and overall wellbeing. Providing good infrastructure for active mobility effectively promotes this type of transportation to decrease traffic and urban congestion. Consequences of cycling and walking include increased exposure to air pollution, noise, and more frequent accidents. Urban environments can also be transformed into walkable areas, which can benefit the elderly, but safety can be problematic if areas are congested with cars. Designing safe walkable areas in cities can increase the popularity of walking, decrease physical inactivity, and improve health. People switching to e-bike from either private cars or public transport expend more energy as physical activity increases, gaining between 550 and 880 Metabolic Equivalent Task minutes per week. == Environment ==

An environmental benefit of active mobility is reducing greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming. Every year, a typical car emits 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere speeds up the effects of climate change. As automobile use increases greenhouse gas emissions, the rates in which our Earth is reaching climate tipping point thresholds are escalating. For example, in New Zealand, active mobility has been found to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 1% annually. An increase in cycling or walking consistently and independently decreased mobility-related lifecycle emissions. An average person cycling 1 trip/day more and driving 1 trip/day less for 200 days a year would decrease mobility-related lifecycle emissions by about 0.5 tonnes over a year. Air and noise pollution are negative effects of vehicular transport. Air pollution negatively affects human health and the environment. Air pollution can cause acid rain, eutrophication, haze, wildlife deaths, thinning of Earth's ozone layer, crop damage, and global climate change. Active mobility reduces air and noise pollution by substituting for cars that produce greenhouse gases and noise, benefiting the environment and urban ecosystems. ==Government responses==

Active mobility has appealed to policymakers because of its beneficial contributions to physical health and reductions of air pollution, leading to legislative efforts to make cycling and walking safer and more attractive for commuting and personal errands. These measures include infrastructure changes to accommodate more cyclists and pedestrians on roads, regulations to limit car traffic, Infrastructure developments that have been correlated with increased active mobility are wider sidewalks, street lighting, flat terrain, and urban greenery, particularly with access to parks. Cycling in particular requires more infrastructure development to achieve a noticeable increase in use, including: • Bike lanes: a separate lane on a conventional road designated by signage and street markings to be reserved for bicycles. • Bike boxes: areas at an intersection designated for bicycles to occupy when stopped. • Bicycle stations: specialized parking facilities that also include basic tools for bicycle maintenance. A significant concern about increased active mobility is a corresponding increase in injuries and deaths, especially between pedestrians or cyclists and motor vehicles. Active mobility may often be more time-consuming than commuting by vehicle, and the effects of distance, geographic features such as hills, and climate may make outdoor exertion uncomfortable or impractical. Another criticism of active transportation policy contends that converting traffic lanes for bicycle use makes travel more difficult for commuters who must a motor vehicle. == By country ==

European Union , Germany The European Union's Mobility and Transport organization includes the promotion of walking and cycling among its strategies to enable more sustainable transportation in Europe. The European Union has also adopted a Vision Zero goal to eliminate all traffic deaths, seeking to mitigate the number of incidents between pedestrians and cyclists and motor vehicles, as these commonly result in serious injury or death. Separate from the European Union, several European cities and regions founded an organization, Polis, in 1989 to coordinate efforts between local governments and the European Union to improve the efficiency of transportation. This includes the facilitation of active mobility, which Polis states provides benefits to the environment and to the public's physical health and asserts that these improvements contribute to the economy as well. Polis recommends that policy decisions should account for benefits from reduced health and environmental costs from active mobility, increased city accessibility from reduced congestion and pollution, and consider regulations on vehicle design to address concerns of safety and convenience. Polis encourages the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) to guide mobility projects in cities of all sizes. Netherlands Active mobility is used widely in the Netherlands, comprising more than 40% of commuting in urban areas. As a result, the Dutch government estimates that there are about 1.3 bikes per person in the Netherlands. This rate and number are higher than most other European countries, reflecting the high use of active mobility in the Netherlands. may have contributed to a declining mortality rate, which fell more than 30% from 2007 to 2016. Following a test plan implemented in the neighborhood of Tampines, the Minister of Transport presented a National Cycling Plan in 2013 to provide paths to integrate cycling with Singapore's extensive Mass Rapid Transit system. This includes 190 kilometers of paths, thousands of bicycle parking racks, signage, and cyclist education. These efforts have been criticized, however, as being limited in scope, especially for limiting the expansion of cycling access to off-road connections, such as through the Park Connectors Network, rather than more infrastructure for commuting in cities. England The UK Government's plan for active travel in England was released in 2020 and is known as Gear Change. The plan aims to make England a 'great cycling nation'. The plan aims to create cycling and walking corridors, introduce more low-traffic neighbourhoods and school streets, aims to set high standards for cycling infrastructure. The plan accompanies £2 billion in additional funding over the following five years for cycling and walking announced in May 2020. The plan also introduced a new body and inspectorate known as Active Travel England. Scotland Scottish Government policy aims to increase the use of active travel modes in Scotland for shorter journeys and to make active mobility safer and inclusive. The National Walking Strategy was published in 2017 and the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland (CAPS) was last updated in 2017. The active travel advocacy group Cycling UK criticised the Scottish Government for not increasing funding for active travel. The Scottish budget allocates £100 million for cycling and walking, which is 3.3% of the transport budget or the total cost of three miles of the A9 dualling scheme. Within the public sector in Scotland the transport sector has the lowest percentage of women in senior posts. Only 6.25% of heads of transport bodies are women. United States Residents of the United States use active mobility as a mode of transportation less often than residents of other countries. The far greater mortality rates of pedestrians and cyclists in U.S. cities has been cited as a contributing factor to this trend. The Livability Initiative includes billions of dollars of funding through several grant programs, including the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD), Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA), and the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), to facilitate the construction of infrastructure supportive of increased pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Funding increases for these programs, such as the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) act of 2015, have garnered bipartisan support. Multiple cities in the United States, including Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, Sacramento, and Houston, have implemented their own policies to encourage the active mobility for commuting to work and to school. More extensive efforts involve detailed active transportation programs (ATPs), such as those implemented in California, Portland, Oregon, Fort Worth, Texas, and San Diego County. However, these efforts have struggled to promote measurable changes in the percentage of commuters using active transportation to work: in the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 3.4% of Americans biked or walked to work in 2013, and only 3.1% did so in 2018. . ==Disabled people==

People with disabilities often face more issues with active transport than those without disabilities. Some people have medical barriers to active travel. There are some instances where it is not possible for a person to walk or cycle, and, even if the physical, societal and financial barriers were removed, some would still need access to a motor vehicle. An immediate barrier for disabled people walking on roads is the inaccessibility of streetspace, for example: • Clutter on footpaths, e.g. road signs and electric vehicle charging points • Uneven or steep footpaths • A lack of dropped kerbs and tactile paving • A lack of places for people to stop to rest • Hazards caused by shared space with vehicles For those who wish to cycle, barriers can include narrow cycle lanes, infrastructure that requires a cyclist to dismount, physical access barriers and a lack of suitable cycle parking facilities. == Gender differences ==

In some cities and countries women lead the way when it comes to walking. 54% of journeys completed wholly on foot in London are made by women. According to research into gender differences in active travel across a range of international cities, women are more likely than men to walk and more likely to use public transport. The gender differences in active travel metrics are age dependent. Women's and men's perception of danger and safety offer differential travel experience. Research highlights the importance of a gendered approach towards healthy living and active transport policy making with considerations for reducing road traffic danger and male violence. Men are more likely to have access to private cars than women. Design that benefits cars over other modes of transport disproportionately benefits men. Men and women tend to have different patterns of journeys. Women are more likely to be trip chaining, and trip chaining encourages car use. Women are also more likely to be 'encumbered' by carrying children, shopping or accompanied by elderly companions and road safety is cited as a concern relating to cycling and to walking. A Sustrans report in the UK found a lack of evidence that women participate in creating transport policy and planning. == See also ==