Well its 10 years since the last Census and very soon the forms for the 2011 (and possibly the last ever) Census will be delivered to your door. You may have seen some of the adverts in local newspapers or billboards explaining why the Census is important for helping local councils and public sector agencies effectively plan local and national services. (Although not everyone is convinced).
Amongst the wide range of data collected, the 2001 Census provided some interesting data for the "Method of Travel to Work" used by people in Greater Manchester (See graph below).
Basically, 20582 people (out of a GM total of 1.78 million) reported that in 2001 they used a bicycle to travel to work. This was about 1.16% of the Census respondents.
Hardly, a mass level of commuter cycling and lets hope that the figures for the amount of people cycling to work from the 2011 Census data (whenever they are published) show a big increase.
What is also interesting (yes I know it may be a little data geeky) is that the 2001 census data on a whole range of subjects - including Travel to Work modes - is available right down to what are known as Lower Layer Super Output Areas.
The map below is the Trafford 001B Lower Layer Super Output Area and the Travel to Work data (KS15) shows that of the 560 people in this area (aged 16-74, in employment) that 21 (3.75%) used a bicycle to travel to work.
This level of data, whilst 10 years old, is available for all areas within Greater Manchester and could provide a useful tool to measure any increase (hopefully, not a decrease ! ) in the levels of people cycling to work in very specific areas near to you.
The data is available on the Office for National Statistics - Neighbourhood Statistics website.
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester is putting the final touches to its Local Transport Plan (LTP3) and is also starting to draft a bid for up to £50 million from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (bid deadline 6th June 2011).
In our efforts to increase cycling levels in Greater Manchester we can learn useful lessons from European countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark. The video below has been produced by video blogger Mark Wagenbuur who uses YouTube to show us what can be achieved, if we really start to think big.
Lets hope that the soon-to-be formed Transport for Greater Manchester can learn some of these lessons.
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