Loaded with goodness, walking and cycling are the fruit and vegetables of the transport world. Private vehicles are more like refined sugar - calorie empty and every bit as addictive if Aotearoa New Zealand's sky-high car ownership stats are anything to go by.
Based on the food pyramid first published in Sweden in 1974, the healthy transport pyramid prioritises the best methods of personal active travel. It's a quick visual way of highlighting the healthiest, most environmentally friendly ways of getting around and shows what is ‘healthy’ for both individuals and populations.
From top to bottom
In the transport pyramid, walking, wheeling and cycling occupy the healthiest, top-most chunks of a reversed triangle. Public transport comes next for its ability to move large numbers of people around in a relatively quick accessible way. Taxis and car-sharing follow, with individual car travel sitting at the bottom, unhealthiest level.
There are wide-ranging health, economic and environmental benefits to walking and wheeling. It's no surprise that these top the sustainable transport hierarchy. Factor in carbon emissions, air pollution, noise and traffic congestion, and it quickly becomes obvious why cars come last.
While private vehicles do occupy a legitimate position, doing a great job in addressing, for example, the mobility needs of travellers with ambulatory disabilities, the whole ‘point’ of the pyramid is that car and roading investment is deemphasised in favour of more active, communal modes of travel.
Towards a cleaner, healthier future
Among several ‘megatrends’ expected to impact New Zealand over the next several decades are decarbonisation, worsening levels of obesity[1] and chronic loneliness[2]. Embracing travel methods found at the top of the healthy transport pyramid can help address all three in one hit.
Around the world, many countries are ramping up sustainability and emissions reduction targets. Transportation and mobility are a core element in these efforts. Here in New Zealand more than half of our domestic CO2 emissions come from private vehicles. Getting people out of cars and into active travel will play an important role in decarbonising the economy.
Embracing active travel can also support healthy weight loss and connect people with one another and the places they live in. These are no small benefits when you consider that New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD and that 17 percent of Kiwis aged 15+ report feeling lonely at least some of the time.
Of course, no one single action can cure the carbon, obesity and loneliness issues that confront us, but a combination of regulatory, lifestyle and environmental changes – including those enabled by active travel and 21st century modes of urban transport - can have positive effects.
A tool for transport planning
Roading takes the lion's share of New Zealand’s transport investment. While that won’t be turned around overnight, what we can do is plan and invest wisely in infrastructure for sustainable urban transport – along with elevating the healthy transport pyramid much higher up on the policy-making agenda.
There's lots of places that New Zealand can look to for inspiration. Since the 1970s, a clever mix of policy, planning, infrastructure and financing have placed cycling firmly at the heart of city life in Copenhagen. 36 percent of trips to work or school in the Danish capital are made on two wheels. By 2025, city authorities want 75 percent of all trips in the city to be made on foot, bike, or public transit[3].
Other places in Europe are also forging ahead. This year, the Welsh Government launched a new transport strategy that puts people ahead of cars[4]. Elsewhere, Scotland has committed to the healthy transport pyramid, and the UK has boosted cycling and walking with a big-spending £2 billion post-pandemic plan[5].
