Potential environmental impacts of electric bicycles replacing other transport modes in Wellington, New Zealand

The environmental impacts of people switching from other transport modes to E-bikes were calculated for four different user groups in Wellington, New Zealand. These four groups had different transport preferences that were defined with respect to their barriers to cycling: Safe Cyclists, Likely Cyclists, Recreational Cyclists, and Hesitant Cyclists. The groups provided the basis for developing scenarios representing city-wide mode switches from car, bus, train and walking-to use of E-bikes. The Safe Cyclists scenario performed best for 9 of the 15 impact categories. This suggests the desirability of focusing on specific user-groups and their needs in order to change transport behaviours. In particular, in this case it implies a need to prioritise cyclist safety in transport planning (such as providing separate infrastructure for E-bikes).