Case Study: University of Cambridge achieves evidence of net health benefits from bike-sharing with Lumina Decision Systems' Analytica

University of Cambridge - Customer Case Study

The University of Cambridge sought to quantify whether city bike‑sharing programs deliver net public‑health benefits, weighing the exercise gains against higher injury risks and air‑pollution exposure for riders. To build and explain their probabilistic, multi‑dimensional health impact models (for London’s Cycle Hire and Barcelona’s Bicing), Cambridge researchers used Analytica from Lumina Decision Systems as the modeling and sensitivity‑analysis tool.

Using Analytica, the team combined registration and travel data, surveys, accident records and pollution measures in influence‑diagram models for London and Barcelona. Lumina Decision Systems’ Analytica models showed net positive health impacts and reduced CO2 emissions: the London study estimated a net gain of 88 DALYs per year (about 3.3–10.9 deaths averted per million users), while Barcelona showed ~69.2 deaths averted per million users; results were robust to sensitivity analysis and highlighted injury rates, age and trip duration as key drivers.

University of Cambridge

James Woodcock

University of Cambridge