We could all do with reducing our carbon footprint, and by making a few small changes to our transport habits, we can significantly reduce our own carbon footprint. This blog post has been taken from an in-depth study of commuting data from more than 3,800 people across seven cities.
Choosing a bike instead of a car just once a day, will reduce an average citizens carbon emissions from transport by 67%, according to research led by University of Oxford Transport Professor, Christian Brand. This means that even if not all journeys are substituted for bicycle trips, the potential for reducing emissions is very high.
Although normally, we would focus on commuting, more often than not, even recreational travel such as for shopping or social visits is done by car. These two transport activities alone make up 52% of total transport emissions. As these journeys tend to be shorter, there is an increased potential for a shift toward cycling.
If just 10% of the population were to replace one car journey each day for a bike ride, overall transport emissions would be expected to decrease by approximately 10% according to the study.