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Abstract
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Background
Bike sharing systems have been promoted in many countries. Bike sharing can alleviate urban air pollution and reduce road congestion during peak hours in the morning and evening. In addition, using shared bicycles as a daily commuting tool can help users increase their daily exercise volume. This study evaluates the health effects of shared bicycle use. The evaluation of health is prospective, and we utilize current data to evaluate and analyze the health of future users. The primary health considerations for users include physical activity, PM2.5 levels, and collision rates. Physical exercise might be hindered by high concentrations of PM2.5. Thus, while riding in conditions of very high PM2.5 concentration, the pollutants taken by the traveler will hurt the body and counteract the advantages of physical exercise. This research demonstrates that cycling during periods of low or moderate PM2.5 concentrations should lead to an overall reduction premature mortality.
Data and methods
We perform a health assessment study to quantify the health risks and benefits of car trip substitution by bike trip. We collected the cycling data from Mobike shared bicycles operator in Shanghai established in August 2016. From August 1st to August 31st, 2018, there were 1,023,603 orders and 3,036,936 cycling users. During the computational analysis, we examined three factors: physical activity, PM2.5 pollution, and bicycle collision rate, and then summed the results to determine the cyclist's risk of early death. Three scenarios are created to estimate the annual expected number of deaths (increasing or reduced) due to physical activity, road traffic fatalities, and air pollution.
Results
Air pollution exposure was assessed using variations in the background fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration, which was 45 μg/m3 on average in August 2016 in Shanghai. Cycling under these settings, the advantages of physical exercise exceeded the hazards posed by pollution. When PM2.5 concentrations exceed 45 μg/m3, seven to eight people will avert early mortality for every 306,936 users. It means 23-26 per million cyclists would avoid premature death. When PM2.5 concentrations exceed 68 μg/m3, 1 to 2 people will be significantly harmed by air pollution and 4-7 out of every million cyclists are negatively affected by high PM2.5 concentrations.
Conclusions
These results demonstrate that shared cycling can avoid premature mortality. In addition, from the perspective of urban pollution, commuters choosing bicycles instead of cars to travel can reduce urban air pollution, improve air quality, and reduce traffic jams in the morning and evening peaks. Further research on the co-benefits of shared bicycles would be helpful to planners.
Language: en |