Social Cost Benefit Analysis of the Bicycle

  • 22 January 2015

For many infrastructure investments in the Netherlands a Social Cost Benefit Analysis (SCBA) is done. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment asked Decisio to investigate if the SCBA methodology would be applicable for bicycle investments as well. After collecting many key figures – which have been approved by a group of experts – a cost benefit analysis was carried out for three different cases:

    • A bicycle bridge to connect two parts of Utrecht
    • Bicycle parking facilities near train stations
    • The shift from car or bus to bicycle

The project showed that Social Cost Benefit Analysis is very usefull for cycling investments and that bicycle investments mostly give high social return on investment. Besides that, this method can be very useful when a decision has to be made between different alternatives (like building separated bike lanes or mixed traffic lanes).

The collected and developed key figures are used in many other projects, like the social cost benefit analysis on the bicycle highway route between Cuijk and Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

More information on Social Costs & Benefits Analysis of the Bicycle

A summary of this project in English can be downloaded: Summary SCBA investments in cycling.

For more information on this project please contact Kees van Ommeren at +31 20 670 05 62 or c.vanommeren[at]decisio.nl.

Check also the Decisio website page on Bicycle Economics.

See also