TfGM... cycling towards a sustainable transport plan?

Well the bids are in and now everyone has to wait for the Department for Transport (DfT) equivalent of the white smoke from the papal chimney....I am off course referring to the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) bids that have been submitted seeking a slice of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund available from national government.  The Local Sustainable Transport Fund (or LSTF) is a Department for Transport funding scheme for "projects which stimulate economic growth whilst reducing carbon emissions." and TfGM have submitted two bids.

The "key component bid" (up to £5 million) for the Greater Manchester Commuter Cycle Project was submitted on Monday 18th April and the 'Large Project' bid (up to £45 million) was sent off on Monday 6th June.

The main element in the "key component" bid is for several large Cycle Centres (to be located in Manchester City Centre and possibly Media City) and a number of other smaller scale cycle parking/storage facilities. Whilst, the jury is still out in many cities on whether the large Cycle Centres will flourish or prove to be expensive white elephants there is a clear need across Greater Manchester for more and better cycle parking and storage facilities.


The "key component" bid also contains funding for a range of "Cycle Support Measures" including the provision of cycle training and the bid document states that:  "Bikeability Level 3 training will be provided for adults along their route to work, or as part of their work, particularly targeting new cycle commuters. Cycle training will also be offered to all those taking up the Bike Back to Work offer." (Page 11)  

The bid document goes on to state: "A central pool of some 3,330 places will be funded by LSTF funding, to be matched by a similar level of locally funded training." and that "Beyond 2014/15 the full costs of a cycle training programme will be met from local resources." It will be interesting to see if the 10 GM local authorities will still agree to the funding for adult cycle training beyond 2014/15 - even if the LSTF bid is unsuccessful.

Those nice people at Love Your Bike helped lobby Manchester City Council to introduce adult cycle training (for more details see the Freewheeling website) and over the last few years have been encouraging all GM local authorities to introduce similar schemes... so are delighted to see this included in TfGM's key component bid.

The snappily titled "Large Project Bid" was for just under £45 million and is an "expression of interest" which, if it makes it through the first round at the end of July, will be developed further with Department of Transport officers between August and December 2011.

Because the LSTF is a "competitive bid process", ie TfGM are bidding for funding against any of the other Metropolitan areas in England and Wales, the detailed bid documents were not available for public consultation.


A brief "Vision for Sustainability' document was circulated to a small number of organisations before the bid deadline. One of the "outcomes" listed was the aim to achieve a "doubling of commuter mode share for cycling into the Regional Centre and a 50% increase elsewhere, delivering over 7,000 additional commuter cycle trips per day and replacing around 420,000 car trips per year." (Page 9).

Which sounds ambitious, until you realise that current levels of cycling into the City Centre (during the AM peak time) are estimated to be a 1.1% modal share. Therefore the 'target' is to go from 1.1% of travel trips being made by bicycle to a grand 2.2%.   Compare this to Copenhagen's current cycling modal share of over 40% !

It is also interesting to note the comment in Manchester City Council's Local Area Implementation Plan (LAIP) which states that: "Cycle journeys into the City Centre have doubled in the last 3 years and walking trips have increased by over 80%."  [Page 21]

Whenever discussing statistics it is always worth remembering Mark Twain's "lies, damned lies, and statistics" observation. However, if cycle journeys into the City Centre have already doubled over the last 3 years, then given that TfGM are asking for up to £50 million of Local Sustainable Transport Funds, it does seem a little unambitious to set a similar target (although of course the actual number of people cycling would be much larger than in the previous 3 years).

The Large Project Bid document is now available and outlines proposed projects in 4 main themes:

• Sustainable Access to Key Destinations and Transport Hubs
• Supporting sustainable choices
• Smarter Travel
• Enabling community transport

In the 'Supporting sustainable choices'  section the document describes how cycling training provides a "cost-effective means of giving adult cyclists the confidence to cycle to work and to cycle as part of their daily lives. It has already been successfully trialled in Manchester and Trafford, and the bid includes proposals to roll this out across the rest of the conurbation." (Page 10). Tucked away on Page 22 is a budget allocation for £2.9 million for Cycle training. If the LSTF bid is successful this revenue funding would support cycle training for 36,000 people in Greater Manchester over a 3 year period. 

Now, when adult cycle training is discussed, comments often run along the lines of "why do people need cycle training, anyone can ride a bike".  However, academic research has shown that between 7% and 12% of adults never learnt to ride a bicycle and the results from the Manchester Freewheeling adult cycle training scheme has shown that approx 20% of all the cycle training places were for "Learn to Ride" sessions i.e. for people who could not ride a bike - but in most cases could cycle after attending the training sessions.

Also, taking into account the large number of people who can cycle - but do not have the confidence or experience to cycle on the roads in Greater Manchester - then adult cycle training can have a big impact in helping and encouraging people to start, or return to, cycling.

If TfGM's Local Sustainable Transport Fund bids are successful, then Greater Manchester will have a mega adult cycle training scheme and this is very, very welcome....  and this element of the LSTF bid certainly cannot be described as unambitious! 

....but I cannot help wondering what effect such a huge cycle training programme would have on those damn statistics!


Update 5th July


Norman Baker M.P, the Transport Minister today announced the local authorities who had been awarded Local Sustainable Transport Funds for their "key component" bids.  Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have been awarded the full £4.9 million requested for the Greater Manchester Commuter Cycle Project "key component bid".  Good news.