Even though centuries have passed since the very first bicycle was invented, the popularity of bicycles does not seem to decline with the lapse of time. Not only are they the indispensable means of transportation in most parts of the world, but they also evolved into a recreational sport which plentiful health benefits come along. However, the need for using bicycles for travel in a modern transportation system, especially that of an urban area, has been questioned in recent years with respect to its cost-effectiveness. In this essay, I examine both the benefits and drawbacks of the use of bicycles in public transport and form a brief conclusion based on my stance on this issue.

Some advocates argue that cycling can greatly reduce the air pollution in Hong Kong. The air quality in urban areas of Hong Kong is worsening each day due to detrimental emissions and pollutants produced by the heavy traffic volume, which mainly consists of motor vehicles. Hitchcock and Vedrenne (2014) consider bicycles to be promising alternatives for motor vehicles in an effort to improve the air quality of urban areas, since they are low-carbon and human-powered vehicles that produce zero emissions when ridden.

Indeed, bicycles are more environmental-friendly than motor vehicles, but its effectiveness in making a difference to the general air quality remains questionable. The findings from the research conducted by Rakowska et al. (2014) imply that reducing the portion of motor vehicles in total traffic volume may not be as effective as expected to improve the air quality of urban areas, since “small fraction of dirtiest vehicles actually contribute a disproportionally high fraction of total emissions”. For this reason, the positive influence, substituting bicycles for motor vehicles can only generate limited effects on air quality improvement.

Another great advantage of having bicycles as means of public transport is it can give a boost to urban mobility. As congested as the traffic is in Hong Kong, the government is in urgent need of a new public transport method to facilitate short-distanced travel. Monzón et al. (as cited in Gonzalo-Orden, Linares, Velasco, Díez & Rojo, 2014) indicate that the motivations to use bicycles for travel include speed, as they are not influenced by traffic congestion, and flexibility, as there are no restrictions imposed on parking, routes and destination compared to other public transportation. These two features of cycling are both fairly essential to improve short-distanced travel experience and promote urban mobility during rush hours.

However, the high degree of freedom for the users of bicycles often results in disordered traffic situation since there are fewer regulations imposed upon them. Suzuki, Kanda, Doi, and Tsuchizaki (2012) observe that cyclists, granted with a wild range of choices due to the flexibility of bicycles, tend to ride in the area where pedestrians should have greater priority. This has caused considerable inconvenience to pedestrians and has severely infringed pedestrians' right of way. It appears that even if cycling is able to boost urban mobility, the chaotic consequence that comes along is more unfavorable.

The third argument in favor of bicycles is that people are able to gain multiple health benefits from cycling. Benefits from daily cycling for physical health include cardiorespiratory fitness, decrease in obesity, overweight problems and reduction in disease risk factors such as all-cause caner mortality (Oja et al., 2011). In addition, the positive effects on cyclists’ psychological well-being should also be taken into consideration, even though they are not quantitatively measurable.

Despite having plentiful health benefits, cycling in Hong Kong may also lead to injuries, most of which are related to traffic accidents. Although young children under 15 years old consist the majority of bicycle related injuries as they lack riding skills and experience, older cyclists also face the risk of getting injured due to their weak perception towards bicycle safety and the insufficient division of cycling paths and driveways in Hong Kong (Yeung et al., 2009).

I have discussed the arguments for and against the use of bicycles as a form of public transport from various perspectives, as it can be seen from the above. With respect to the benefits, the most important should be reducing air pollution and boosting urban mobility. Bringing health benefits is a supplementary advantage for cyclists. Drawbacks include limited effects on improving overall air quality, unregulated riding routes, which have brought inconvenience to pedestrians, and the risk of bicycle-related injuries.

Taking all of the arguments into consideration, I think that the overall benefits of bicycles are slightly greater than their drawbacks to the society. Nonetheless, these drawbacks can be feasibly eliminated if the government is willing to build better cycling infrastructure and implement laws preventing cycle injuries such as compulsory helmet use. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that bicycles should be encouraged by the government as means of public transport on the conditions above.

References

Gonzalo-Orden, H., Linares, A., Velasco, L., Díez, J. M., & Rojo, M. (2014). Bikeways and cycling urban mobility. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 160, 567-576.

Hitchcock, G., & Vedrenne, M. (2014). Cycling and urban air quality: a study of European experiences. Retrieved from http://www.ecf.com/wp-content/uploads/150119-Cycling-and-Urban-Air-Quality-A-study-of-European-Experiences_web.pdf

Oja, P., Titze, S., Bauman, A., De Geus, B., Krenn, P., Reger-Nash, B., & Kohlberger, T. (2011). Health benefits of cycling: a systematic review. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 21(4), 496-509.

Rakowska, A., Wong, K. C., Townsend, T., Chan, K. L., Westerdahl, D., Ng, S., Mocnik, G., Drinovec L., & Ning, Z. (2014). Impact of traffic volume and composition on the air quality and pedestrian exposure in urban street canyon. Atmospheric Environment, 98, 260-270

Suzuki, K., Kanda, Y., Doi, K., & Tsuchizaki, N. (2012). Proposal and application of a new method for bicycle network planning. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 43, 558-570.

Yeung, J. H. H., Leung, C. S. M., Poon, W. S., Cheung, N. K., Graham, C. A., & Rainer, T. H. (2009). Bicycle related injuries presenting to a trauma centre in Hong Kong. Injury, 40(5), 555-559