Introduction

Economic valuation of the health benefits of active transport modes (such as walking and cycling) is an important means of incentivising changes in transport and land-use policy that better support human health. However, existing valuation methods do not adequately examine how these benefits might vary within a population. Using data from New Zealand, we investigate the extent to which active transport health benefit valuations vary by age and ethnicity.

Methods

We extended a health benefit valuation method used by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to value the health benefits of walking and cycling, stratified by age and ethnicity.

Results

Walking was estimated to have a health benefit of $1.00 per kilometre (New Zealand dollars) for those aged 15–64 years but a benefit of $5.79/km for those aged 65–74 years old. For cycling the health benefits were $0.50/km and $2.90/km respectively. Among people aged 15–64 years, the health benefits of walking were $1.75/km for Māori (New Zealand's indigenous people) and $0.88/km for non-Māori. The equivalent values for cycling were $0.87/km and $0.44/km respectively. There was a greater difference in health benefit by age for Māori ($1.75/km vs $15.12/km of walking for the 15–64 and 65–74 age groups respectively) than for non-Māori ($0.88/km vs $5.11/km of walking for the 15–64 and 65–74 age groups respectively).

Conclusions

The estimated health benefits of active transport are not evenly distributed within the New Zealand population but vary by age and ethnicity. Improvements to the efficiency and equity of active transport investment could potentially be made by taking account of variations in health status within the population.

中文翻译：

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主动运输方式对健康的价值评估随年龄和种族的差异：以新西兰为例

介绍

对主动运输方式（如步行和骑自行车）的健康益处进行经济评估是激励改变运输和土地使用政策以更好地支持人类健康的重要手段。但是，现有的评估方法无法充分检查这些收益在人群中的变化情况。使用来自新西兰的数据，我们调查了有效的运输健康福利评估在多大程度上随年龄和种族而变化。

方法

我们扩展了新西兰运输局（NZTA）使用的健康收益评估方法，以按年龄和种族对价值进行评估，以评估步行和骑自行车的健康收益。

结果

据估计，步行对15-64岁的人来说，每公里的健康收益为1.00美元（新西兰元），对65-74岁的人来说，每公里健康的收益为5.79美元/公里。对于骑自行车，健康收益分别为$ 0.50 / km和$ 2.90 / km。在15-64岁的人群中，步行给健康带来的好处是毛利人（新西兰原住民）$ 1.75 / km，非毛利人$ 0.88 / km。自行车的等效价值分别为$ 0.87 / km和$ 0.44 / km。15-64岁和65-74岁年龄组的毛利人（年龄分别为$ 1.75 / km和$ 15.12 / km）的健康收益差异大于非毛利人（$ 0.88 / km vs $ 5.11 / km）分别针对15-64岁年龄段和65-74岁年龄段）。

结论

主动运输对健康的估计益处在新西兰人口中分布不均，但因年龄和种族而异。考虑到人口中健康状况的变化，有可能提高主动交通投资的效率和公平性。