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Do Health Benefits Outweigh the Costs of Mass Recreational Programs? An Economic Analysis of Four Ciclovía Programs

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Abstract

One promising public health intervention for promoting physical activity is the Ciclovía program. The Ciclovía is a regular multisectorial community-based program in which streets are temporarily closed for motorized transport, allowing exclusive access to individuals for recreational activities and physical activity. The objective of this study was to conduct an analysis of the cost–benefit ratios of physical activity of the Ciclovía programs of Bogotá and Medellín in Colombia, Guadalajara in México, and San Francisco in the USA. The data of the four programs were obtained from program directors and local surveys. The annual cost per capita of the programs was: US $6.0 for Bogotá, US $23.4 for Medellín, US $6.5 for Guadalajara, and US $70.5 for San Francisco. The cost–benefit ratio for health benefit from physical activity was 3.23–4.26 for Bogotá, 1.83 for Medellín, 1.02–1.23 for Guadalajara, and 2.32 for San Francisco. For the program of Bogotá, the cost–benefit ratio was more sensitive to the prevalence of physically active bicyclists; for Guadalajara, the cost–benefit ratio was more sensitive to user costs; and for the programs of Medellín and San Francisco, the cost–benefit ratios were more sensitive to operational costs. From a public health perspective for promoting physical activity, these Ciclovía programs are cost beneficial.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of the research would like to acknowledge the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Basic and Applied Complexity, CeiBA (Bogotá, Colombia), Colciencias grant 519 2010, and the grant from sustainable mobility research projects by La Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. We also would like to acknowledge Pablo Lemoine and Gina Rojas from El Centro Nacional de Consultoria (Bogotá, Colombia); Rocío Gámez of the IDRD of Bogotá; Claudia Arango, Claudia Garzón, Fabián Higuita, and Andrés Felipe García of the INDER of Medellín, the Municipal Council of Sports of Guadalajara, Livable City of San Francisco for providing the data of the Ciclovía programs; and Claudia Guedes, Mi-Sook Kim, Patrick Tierney, and Jackson Wilson of the Active Living Across the Lifespan Research Group of San Francisco State University, California, for the data collection. We would like to thank Maria Luis Latorre, Juan Carlos Mendieta, and Candace Rutt who provided valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Pan American Health Organization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, CeiBA Complex systems Research Center, Carrera 1este # 19A 40, Bogotá, Colombia

    Felipe Montes & Roberto Zarama

  2. Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes, Carrera 1 #18A 10, Bogotá, Colombia

    Olga L. Sarmiento

  3. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Carrera 1este # 19A 40, Atlanta, USA

    Michael Pratt & Thomas L. Schmid

  4. Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC, 4770 Buford HWY, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA

    Guijing Wang

  5. Healthy Eating and Active Living, Noncommunicable Disease Unit, DPC/NC, Pan American/World Health Organization, 4770 Buford HWY, Washington, DC, USA, United States

    Enrique Jacoby & Mauricio Ramos

  6. Instituto Distrital para la Recreación y el Deporte (IDRD), 525 23rd Street NW, Bogotá, DC, 20037-2895, Colombia

    Oscar Ruiz

  7. Instituto de Recreación y Deporte (INDER), UMA. (Planeación), 4770 Buford HWY, Medellín, GA, 30341, Colombia

    Olga Vargas

  8. Consejo Municipal del Deporte de Guadalajara, Vía RecreActiva, Guadalajara, Calle 63 No. 47 – 06, Jalisco, México

    Gabriel Michel

  9. Active Living Across the Lifespan Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, San Francisco State University, Medellín en Movimiento, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Susan G. Zieff

  10. Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Nevado de Toluca Número 100 Colonia Independencia, Guadalajara, Santiago, Chile

    Juan Alejandro Valdivia

  11. Cavill Associates, Mercury Offices, 1600 Holloway Ave., Stockport Cheshire, CA, 94132, UK

    Nick Cavill

  12. Physical Activity and Health Unit, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Zurich, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Zürich, Switzerland

    Sonja Kahlmeier

Authors
  1. Felipe Montes
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  2. Olga L. Sarmiento
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  3. Roberto Zarama
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  4. Michael Pratt
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  5. Guijing Wang
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  6. Enrique Jacoby
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  7. Thomas L. Schmid
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  8. Mauricio Ramos
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  9. Oscar Ruiz
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  10. Olga Vargas
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  11. Gabriel Michel
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  12. Susan G. Zieff
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  13. Juan Alejandro Valdivia
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  14. Nick Cavill
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  15. Sonja Kahlmeier
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Correspondence to Felipe Montes.

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Montes, F., Sarmiento, O.L., Zarama, R. et al. Do Health Benefits Outweigh the Costs of Mass Recreational Programs? An Economic Analysis of Four Ciclovía Programs. J Urban Health 89, 153–170 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9628-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9628-8

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