is one car passenger 'worth' five cyclists?

[dellzeqq]

or have I misunderstood this?

John Biggs (GLA member)
Further to your response to my question 1750/2011, is it true that the “modelling” on which so much is based rates a cyclist as 0.2 Passenger Car Units (PCU’s), in other words 20% of a PCU?

Written response from the Mayor
Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly

 

[mcr]

It surely depends how a PCU is defined: is the unit the individual person (driver/passenger) in a vehicle or the vehicle itself? Not being familiar with the terminology, I read it as meaning five cyclists = 1 car-full.

 

[jonesy]

I think it relates to the amount of road space taken up, or more strictly capacity. So 5 cyclists take up as much road capacity as 1 car. But I'll check.

 

[Speshact]

I understand this to a ratio in terms of junction capacity. This figure would represent the working assumption that five cyclists can get through a junction in the same time as one car. This neatly shows the efficiency of cycling as a way of smoothing traffic flow (not least as a bicycle is always fully occupied). A bus will have a higher PCU representing its increased length (eg 2 pcu). Of course if the bus is fully occupied it is more junction efficient than cycles.

 

[srw]

http://www.dft.gov.uk/webtag/documents/expert/unit3.5.6.php#01

I'm bored, so I went and found the cost-benefit analysis assumptions. A cyclist's time (apparently during the working day - i.e. not commuting) is worth 2/3 of a car driver's time, a little less than the time of a car passenger and half the cost of a train passenger. A walker's time is actually more valuable than that of a driver.