Cyclists' exposure to air pollution: in situ evaluation with a cargo bike platform

Cyclists' exposure to air pollutants near roadways has been associated with numerous health effects. While the adverse health effects concerning aerosols have traditionally been assessed with data of particle mass concentrations, it appears that the number concentration is also another important indicator of toxicity. Thus, to holistically evaluate one's exposure to aerosol particles, assessments should be based on mass concentrations and number concentrations. In order to assess individual cyclists' exposure as they move through space and time, spatiotemporal high-resolution approaches are needed. Therefore, a mobile, fast-response monitoring platform was developed that uses a cargo bicycle as a base. Data of particle mass concentrations (PM₁, PM_2.5, PM₁₀) and particle number concentrations (PN₁₀) were collected along two different routes, one characterized by high-intensity vehicle traffic and one by low-intensity vehicle traffic. While high spatiotemporal heterogeneity was observed for all measured quantities, the PN₁₀ concentrations fluctuated the most. High concentrations of PN₁₀ could be clearly associated with vehicle traffic. For PM_2.5, this relation was less pronounced. Mean particle concentrations of all measures were significantly higher along the high-traffic route. Comparing route exposures, the inhalation of PM_2.5 was similar between both routes, whereas along the high-traffic route, cyclists were exposed to twice the particle number. We conclude that the cargo bike, featuring high-frequency mobile measurements, was useful to characterize the spatial distribution of mass concentrations and number concentrations across an urban environment. Overall, our results suggest that the choice of route is a key factor in reducing cyclists' exposure to air pollution.