Source: Adapted from Mason, J., L. Fulton and Z. McDonald (2015) A Global High Shift Cycling Scenario: The Potential for Dramatically Increasing Bicycle and E-bike Use in Cities Around the World, with Estimated Energy, CO2, and Cost Impacts, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy and the University of California, Davis.
In many countries, cycling is an important component of mobility and has become part of urban planning. Many public transit systems have park-and-ride facilities for bicycles and many roads have reserved bike lanes. Consequently, cycling accounts for a significant share of the total amount of trips. Usually, the share of cycling is higher in large cities, reflecting more constraining mobility conditions, higher densities, and shorter commuting distances, which advantages the use of bicycles. Over 25% of the commuting trips for the Netherlands and Denmark are accounted for by cycling. This share is around 15% for Japan, Germany, and Italy. For the United States and the UK, this share is less than 1%, but higher in states such as California. Rapidly developing economies such as China and India also have a high proportion of commuting trips accounted for by cycling despite the ongoing motorization. Geography plays an important role in the usage of the bicycle as a mode of transportation, particularly in terms of the landscape (flat land) and climate (excessive temperatures). Therefore, it is not surprising to realize that the importance of cycling will be more prominent in relatively flat areas with limited harsh winter conditions.