MEASURING THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF EXERCISE IN LABOR-INTENSIVE URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (ABRIDGMENT)

Recent studies show that labor-intensive transportation modes such as bicycling and walking play an essential role in providing needed exercise in an otherwise sedentary society. Transportation planners have not incorporated the value of exercise in benefit-cost analyses partly because of the measurement difficulties. The present analysis attacks these problems by: 1) Ranging the value of the health benefits of thresh- old exercise by a o to 80 percent reduction in premature coronary heart disease (CHD), mortality, and morbidity ; and 2) Ranging the economic benefits of reducing CHD based on the following methods: (a) the present value per 1-h exercise session of $0 to $2.30, and (b) the consumer surplus value of bicycling exercise, which ranged from 35 to 78 cents/km (56 cents to $1.25/mile) for a sample of university students. These data show that the exercise benefits compose one of the major sources of benefits for bicycle and pedestrian systems. Computer simulated techniques for decision making (or benefit-cost analysis) under uncertainty can compare these (plus other) ranges of benefits with ranges of costs for bicycling facilities to generate distributions of probable benefit-cost ratios.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/599/599-013.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=MEASURING+THE+ECONOMIC+VALUE+OF+EXERCISE+IN+LABOR-INTENSIVE+URBAN+TRANSPORTATION+SYSTEMS+(ABRIDGMENT)&author=M.+Everett&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309025680
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by Committee on Bicycling and Bicycle Facilities. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Everett, Michael
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: p 66
• Monograph Title: Transportation programming, economic analysis, and evaluation of energy constraints
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 599
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Bicycles; Health; Simulation; Transportation planning; Urban transportation; Walking
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00148671
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309025680
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-020 305
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 15 1981 12:00AM