New research indicates that investing in getting more people on bicycles could make better economic sense than putting money into other forms of transport.
The Auckland University School of Population Health carried out the four-year study.
It looked at the effects on road traffic injury, reduced emissions and gains in health from exercise as well as savings from lower fuel bills, then weighed them up against the cost of road improvements.
Those improvements include investing in high quality on-road cycle lanes with physical barriers, and intersection changes.
The study says spending $600 million on the right kind of cycling infrastructure yields savings from increased exercise in the tens of billions of dollars.
It says changes to main roads and local streets to get more people cycling could bring more than $20 in benefits to society for every dollar spent over 40 years.
That is compared with other kinds of investments such as roads of national significance, which have an estimated benefit of about 10 cents for every $5 spent.
