Danish 'recipe' for a cycling culture....

Today, the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group has been enjoying a presentation from Niels Torslov, Traffic Director for Copenhagen.  This slide shows the Danish "recipe" for a cycling culture.... 

I will leave it to readers to decide how many of these ingredients we currently have in Manchester...



The recipe ingredients were listed as follows:

Personal political dedication is crucial.

Personal dedicated leadership in the administration is crucial.

Build a showcase - testing and experimenting are the vitamins for real change. 

Take special care of intersections and crossings

Choose signature projects that communicates the idea of a human scaled city.

Aesthetics matter - If it doesn't feel right - it won't work.

Provide credible documentation and ongoing monitoring.

Make investments for the next cyclist.

The New Year will bring the consultation on the proposed changes to the Oxford Road Corridor as part of the Cross City Bus programme. So far the proposed designs have been pretty much a "business as usual" approach - with buses driving over the bike lane whenever they enter or leave the bus stop bays.  Not a design likely to encourage large numbers of people new to cycling, or who do not feel safe cycling on the roads, to start cycling.  

This blog will be returning to this subject in the new year, but would suggest that this is an ideal opportunity for Manchester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester to show leadership and to build a showcase.... watch this space.


Photo courtesy of APPCG. Follow them on twitter  @allpartycycling

Manchester (Evening News) so much to answer for... (with profuse apologies to The Smiths)

Oh dear... and for a short moment we may have thought that the Manchester Evening News had gone all cycling friendly.... but then they had to go an spoil it all.

Today's edition is running a story " Take a hike: Critics slam plan to tackle obesity crisis by raising car parking charges"  about the recently published report, from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) "Walking and cycling: local measures to promote walking and cycling as forms of travel or recreation" which was covered in this blog yesterday.

Most of the national TV media and newspapers covered the report fairly, stressing the message that people should be encouraged to walk or cycle on short journeys, rather than go by car.  The exception to this was the coverage in the Daily Mail. This prompted a rebuttal from the NHS "Behind the Headlines" service - 'NICE nanny state' parking cost claims are untrue.

The fact is that the NICE report does not recommend increasing the cost of parking. It simply states that "encouraging people to walk or cycle… could be achieved, for instance, by introducing restricted parking and higher parking charges" and also says that "there is a need to consider how this would impact on car owners living in areas where the environment is not conducive to walking or cycling, or where there is little real alternative to driving."

The Behind the Headlines article also makes clear that: "NICE never made any recommendations regarding parking charges – the idea was only mentioned as a single consideration. No specific recommendations were made on this issue in the guidance. Also, that NICE has no powers to put up parking charges.

But the M.E.N seem to have swallowed the Daily Mail spin, hook, line and sinker. The whole M.E.N. article is based around the "straw man" issues of raised parking charges and that "health chiefs want people to sell their cars"- and then seeks comments from people saying that the (non-existent) ideas are a bad thing. This includes Manchester Council's city centre spokesman, Councillor Pat Karney who is quoted as saying:   "I think that the public will just dismiss it as one of those crazy ideas. Everybody knows we need to do more exercise but I don’t think this is the way forward."


Did the MEN reporter, Emily Davis read the NICE report before writing the story? Did Pat Karney?  Are Manchester City Council's policy reponses on health, obesity and cycling now being dictated by the Daily Mail's frothing opinion pages?

Stuck in traffic? Get a bike... Break free!

Get a bike. Break Free!

Following on from previous blog posts about DIY publicity (This one runs on fat and saves you money) and re-branding of billboards adverts (Never buy Gas again!) it was interesting to see the "before" and "after" photos of Cycle Chic's reworking of the Tom Tom "You are not stuck in Traffic - you are Traffic billboard adverts.

Stuck in your car?

Perish the thought that anyone should feel the urge to re-decorate any similar billboards that they happen to come across in Greater Manchester.

But of course we would love to see any photos!

Cycle and walking 'must be norm' for short journeys: NICE !

You're safer on the bicycle than on the sofa

The BBC and other media have been reporting the highlights of the recently published report from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The NICE report, snappily entitled "Walking and cycling: local measures to promote walking and cycling as forms of travel or recreation"and the accompanying press release are calling on local authorities to implement "town-wide programmes to promote cycling for both transport and recreational purposes."

The report argues that cycling and walking should "be the norm for all short journeys" - trips that could be done in 15 or 20 minutes on foot or by bicycle.

NICE supports this approach because action is needed to combat the "silent epidemic" of inactivity posing a risk to the health of people in England. The advisory body is calling on all local authorities to do more to make walking and cycling an easier option in local communities

The NICE press release quotes the Local Transport Minister Norman Baker saying that: 

“I welcome NICE's guidance on walking and cycling and its recognition that encouraging more people to travel actively is a great way to improve public health. From April, the responsibility for public health will return to local authorities and we want transport, planning and health professionals to work together to help people change the way they travel." and that

“We want to see more people walking and cycling and this new guidance will play a valuable role in making sure that the funding we are providing translates into local measures that help more people to get more active.”


It is great to see the public health agencies publicly supporting cycling and walking... but so far the Coalition Government has yet to tell local authorities and Public Health departments what budgets and resources they will have from 1st April 2013.  Public Health Manchester is already funding the Freewheeling adult cycle training in Manchester but we haven't seen much activity from the rest of the GM public health authorities.

The poster above is from a Copenhagen public health campaign launched in 2010 and the headline reads "You're safer on the bicycle than on the sofa".  The associated website states that: "With these posters Public Health Copenhagen hopes to place focus on the fact that there are very good reasons to ride a bicycle each day and we would like to highlight that Copenhageners already cycle 1.2 million km each day."

There are a whole host of reasons why cycling levels are higher in Copenhagen (and other European cities) - including coherent and continues cycle routes (including segregated cycle facilities) and long-term (and imaginative) planning (subjects of previous blog post and no doubt future ones as well!).  But one of the key issues is funding - not just for cycling but also for other related issues such as road safety.

On the same day as the NICE report was published, the MEN ran an article 'Driven down: Number of Greater Manchester traffic police falls as road deaths soar' detailing how "Greater Manchester Police has lost more than a third of its traffic officers in the last eight years. Figures obtained by the M.E.N. show that GMP has just 310 traffic officers – 159 fewer than the 469 it had in 2004. The cuts have come as deaths on our roads have soared."  On 22nd November the Local Government Association warned that "thousands of miles of Britain's roads could be strewn with potholes within months without reform of how Government funds maintenance." The LGA stated that:

"The Department for Transport is reducing the Highways Maintenance Budget it gives councils by £442 million over the four years of the Comprehensive Spending Review. By 2014/15 councils will get £164 million a year less than in 2010/11, a 19 per cent drop. This is on top of the 28 per cent cut in core funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government, money which councils use to support road repairs and which is being increasingly consumed by spiralling adult social care costs. The Public Accounts Committee warned Government earlier this year that cuts to road maintenance funding risk being counterproductive."

Whilst, it is fine for Government Ministers and local council leaders to exhort people to cycle and walk more - people are unlikely to make these choices if they do not perceive the local roads to be safe, or have nowhere to store or securely park their bicycles at home, work or where they shop etc etc.  Creating a welcoming and encouraging cycling environment and culture takes time, planning, resources and funding. Not just the classic English stop-start and piecemeal funding - but consistent, coherent and long-term funding.

Working out exactly how much Greater Manchester spends on cycling (and walking) is not an exact science with each council including different definitions of cycling related projects. Also, since 1st April 2011, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have strategic responsibility for cycling at the GM level. TfGM have been awarded £5 million from the Local Sustainable Transport Funds for the Commuter Cycling project and another £35+ million LSTF funding for a broader sustainable transport project (most of which is not specifically cycling related). This funding is spread over a 4 year period and runs out in 2015.  Also, some of the cycling expenditure that would have been provided from local councils is now included in the TfGM cycling-related programmes.

It is estimated that Copenhagen has spent £40 per person each year on measures to encourage cycling. In comparison, most English cities spend about £1-2 per person. To match Copenhagen, Greater Manchester would be investing around £100m per year to support cycling. We have a long way to go to catch up but it can be done. What is needed is clear political leadership. 

[Correction.  According to Niels Torslov, Traffic Director for Copenhagen, in a presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, Copenhagen spends £18 per person on cycling.  Therefore the equivalent figure for Greater Manchester would be £45 million per year.]



For example, Edinburgh Council has decided that from 2012/13,  5% of its transport capital and revenue budgets will be invested in cycling infrastructure and projects. This figure will be quite apart from additional ‘external’ funding, which may also be quite substantial. The budget decision also agrees to raise the 5% figure by 1% annually (presumably during the 2012-16 period of the budget statement).

We need the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to start looking at how cycling will be supported after the Greater Manchester LSTF programme funding runs out in 2015.  If Edinburgh can do it - why not Manchester ?

Get Britain Cycling: has your Greater Manchester MP signed up yet?

Wednesday 5th December is the deadline for the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG) call for evidence for their inquiy entitled: “Get Britain Cycling”. The inquiry will examine the barriers which are preventing more people from cycling in the UK. Cycling makes up 2% of all journeys, compared to 27% in the Netherlands and 18% in Denmark. Some European towns have more than 50% of all journeys made by bike.

Ahead of this inquiry, the Chair of the APPCG has tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons seeking support from Members of Parliament and calling on the Government amongst other things to "embed cycling into the heart of transport, planning and other relevant policies." The full text of the EDM 679 is shown below but so far only 4 Greater Manchester MPs have signed up to show their support. As of 27th November these were:

David Crausby (Bolton North East)

Gerald Kaufman (Manchester Gorton)
John Leech (Manchester Withington)
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton)

UPDATE:
Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West) signed up on 3rd December
Ann Coffey (Stockport) signed up on 29th November
Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) signed up on the 27th November.
Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) signed up on 12th December.





Keep writing... it all helps..


If your MP is not listed please contact them and ask them to sign up.


You can find out who your Member of Parliament is via the Write to Them website and you can check if your MP has already signed the EDM on the Hansard website.  It would be really good if we can convince all the Greater Manchester MPs to support this EDM.


Text of Early Day Motion 679: Get Britain Cycling

"That this House notes that cycling benefits public health, the economy, the environment and quality of life; further notes the strength of public and parliamentary support for The Times newspaper's Cities fit for Cycling campaign, and its backing for an inquiry by the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group on Getting Britain Cycling; further notes callsfrom national cycling organisations for a cycling action plan to increase cycling among people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, and to reduce the actual and perceived risks of cycling, whether for day-to-day travel, outdoor recreation or sport; and calls on the Government to provide leadership, resources and Cabinet-level co-ordination across Government departments and external partners to produce and implement such a plan as part of our Olympic legacy, including measures to strengthen road traffic law and its enforcement, improve cycling conditions and perceptions of safety, integrate cycling with public transport, promote cycling through schools, colleges, workplaces, community organisations and beyond, and embed cycling into the heart of transport, planning and other relevant policies."

inching towards a quality bus corridor.... lessons for cycle advocates?

As cycling advocates - we continually raise the lack of any strategic planning for, and development of, coherent, consistent and continuous cycle routes in Greater Manchester in our discussions with local councillors and council officers.  We will all have our perspectives on why such a network of safe cycle routes have not been delivered....

But as an illustration of the barriers to obtaining such a network - consider this case of a 'Quality Bus Corridor' in Trafford.  All ten of the Greater Manchester councils have signed up to the various Local Transport Plans (LTPs 1, 2 and 3) that highlight the supposed priority to be given to encouraging bus travel.  Note also that the bus companies have a powerful voice when speaking to Council and Transport for Greater Manchester leaders.
 

But let's back up a little. In October 2010, this blog highlighted Trafford Council's (TMBC) painfully slow progress towards enforcing the bus lane at the top end of Upper Chorlton Road.  (See Trafford finally get on board the bus lane?).

These Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) are designed to help buses avoid traffic congestion bottlenecks and so help provide a more reliable bus service - and in the absence of any segregated cycle routes - they also double up as very wide cycle lanes.

Trafford Council first sought authorisation for the Upper Chorlton Road, Old Trafford and Edge Lane, Stretford (Reserved Bus Lane) (Peak Hours) Order on 20th September 2007.

In September 2010, a report to the Executive Member for Highways and Transportation stating that Trafford Council wanted "To seek approval to introduce waiting restrictions along Upper Chorlton Road, Old Trafford, as detailed on drawing number E8220/06"

The report contained the following recommendations:  "Members are asked to agree the following;  

• That authorisation be given to advertise the intention to introduce the Traffic Regulation Order as detailed in the schedule to this report and as shown on drawing number E8220/06 and that if no objections are maintained the order be made and implemented as soon as is practicable. 

• That a formal consultation be carried out in the immediate locality of the proposal and any objections received be reported back to members for consideration."

As of November 2012, the so-called 'Quality Bus Corridor' is still full of parked cars. Not being able to find any reference to the outcome of the September 2010 meeting on the Trafford Council website, a Freedom of Information Act request was submitted on 15th November seeking more details. The speedy response came back 24 hours later....

According to TMBC:

• The Traffic Regulation Order referred to has been made – Operative Date 19/12/2011; 
• A formal consultation was carried out and the objection received was detailed within the attachment (d);  A decision was taken to overrule the objection and implement the scheme – see attachment (e). ‘ 

The FOIA response also outlines the actions that have been taken since that December 2011....  

"No Waiting’ signs have been erected but despite several attempts at different times and on separate days neither the street sweeping vehicle nor the road marking contractor has been able to access the road channel along this section of Upper Chorlton Road to enable the yellow line to be applied. Further action is now being organised to serve notices on the occupiers of the adjacent properties (and also place leaflets on the parked vehicles) advising that ‘No Waiting’ cones are to be deployed along the road supported by a full-time Civil Enforcement Officer and that Penalty Charge Notices will be served on any vehicle that remains parked. Once the road is clear of parked vehicles it will be swept and the road marking applied. Subsequently the restriction can be enforced."

Not surprisingly, the GM Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE as was) and the bus operator - Stagecoach - supported the Quality Bus Corridor. Stagecoach's submission to the consultation states:
 
“Clearly we wholeheartedly support the proposal. This section of road is used by our services 15 and 86. Both are important and very popular routes, the 86 operating to a high frequency all day every day. Both services are used by large numbers of customers. The current abuse and lack of enforcement causes service unreliability, lengthened journey times and increases in journey time variability. All of this makes the service less attractive to users. This bus lane is critical for these services and their users and the benefits that would be afforded should have already been being enjoyed for some considerable time.”

So what has this got to do with cycling and cycle lanes, routes and networks?



If Manchester (and Greater Manchester) is serious about becoming the No.1 Cycling City there is an urgent need to create safe routes to encourage more people to cycle. There are a wide range of changes needed to achieve this target. Some of this will be off-road and segregated cycle routes. But there is also a need to re-allocate space on the road network.



But it has taken Trafford Council over 5 years NOT to implement a short stretch of Quality Bus Corridor - even with the support of the public-transport focussed TfGM  Committee and the bus companies. According to a Highway Network Management report submitted to the recent Transport for Greater Manchester Committee meeting:
  
"At the present time, only Manchester City Council and Bury MBC have fully implemented the civil enforcement of bus lanes, allowing more targeted enforcement to reduce traffic congestion and improve journey times. The remaining Greater Manchester Authorities all have aspirations to undertake the enforcement of bus lanes but the capital costs have proved prohibitive."
(3.6 Bus Lane/Tramway Enforcement, page 5) (Emphasis added).
 
Public transport has a high level of support within the Greater Manchester political establishment and yet only two of the ten local authorities have implemented measures agreed upon to improve the reliability of bus services.

Greater Manchester cycling advocates have yet to build, or focus, the political and business sector support for quality cycling infrastructure.  

Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th sees Manchester hosting the Love Cycling - Go Dutch events.  Lets work together inside (and outside) these meetings to increase the political (and financial) support to encourage and enable more people to cycle in Greater Manchester....

Don't go breaking my heart.... bike theft in Greater Manchester

Bike theft is an emotive subject - not just the cost and inconvenience from not having your bicyle to travel around on - but because for many people there is a huge sense of emotional loss when they discover that their bike has been stolen.
And an increasing number of people will be in this unhappy position. In June 2011, the Guardian reported that Halfords had submitted Freedom of Information Act applications to all the UK police forces asking for numbers of stolen bikes. The grand total for 2010 was 115,147 thefts - or as the police refer to it "Theft / unauthorised taking of pedal cycle". But this figure only refers to bicycles that have been stolen AND reported to the police.  According to the most recent British Crime Survey figures (or rather, the Crime Survey for England and Wales as it is now known) some 525,000 bicycles are being stolen each year. Now there are always differences in the methodologies for recording statistics - but one of the key differences is that the Crime Survey records people's actual experience of crime rather than recorded offences.

There will be many reasons why many people don't bother reporting a stolen bike - maybe because it is uninsured, not worth very much or claiming insurance would cost more in increased premiums - but whaever the reason(s) there would appear to be up to 5 times more bicycles being stolen than are being reported to the police.

So what is Greater Manchester like for bicycle thefts?  Road.cc reported the Halford figures and listed the "Top 10 police forces or bike thefts in 2010." When considering the absolute numbers of bikes stolen - Greater Manchester came in the top five police forces areas for bike thefts.

But allowing for population size, Greater Manchester comes in at 17th with 2.01 reported bicycle thefts per 1000 population. Although, to provide a more accurate figure - the statistics would also need to take into account the level of bike ownership for each area - but no-one seems to have done this yet.

Greater Manchester police do provide the data on the numbers of reported bicycle thefts in their Annual Reports. The latest figures available only go up to 2008-09 and show that the number of bicycles reported as being stolen was approximately 4600 for the last 4 years (2006-7 - 2008-9). See table below.

 

If Greater Manchester follows the national average in terms of the numbers of bicycles that are stolen but not reported - then there could be 20,000+ bikes being stolen each year.  Thats a lot of bicycles and a lot of heartache!

But more depressing is the decline in the detection rate that the GMP statistics show.  In 1999, Greater Manchester Police reported a detection rate of 6.3% by 2008-09 this had fallen to 3.5%. (See graph below).

And this is the detection rate for reported bike theft. With actual bike theft up to 5 times higher the overall detection rates are likely to be even lower (although to be fair to the police it would be difficult to detect a stolen bicycle if it has not been reported as stolen in the first place!).

While researching the bike theft figures for this post I came across a fascinating blog from the US (What happens to Stolen Bicycles?) which looks at bike theft from an economics viewpoint.


The blog argues that: "If you are going to take big criminal risk, you need to expect a large financial reward. Crimes that generate more reward than the probability weighted cost of getting caught create expected value for the criminal. Criminals try to find “free lunches” where they can generate revenue with little risk."

and illustrates this with a Risk Return Tradeoff of Crime graph (see image on the left). The blog author suggests that "Using this risk-return framework for crime, it begins to be clear why there is so much bike theft. For all practical purposes, stealing a bike is risk-free crime.  It turns out there is a near zero chance you will be caught stealing a bike (see here) and if you are, the consequences are minimal."  

The detection rates for stolen bikes in Greater Manchester would tend to support the argument that bike-theft is almost a risk-free crime.


Now, on 15th November 2012 we have an opportunity to elect a Police and Crime Commissioner for the Greater Manchester area and so we also have an opportunity to put cycle security and other cycle safety issues on the radar of our soon-to-be elected Commissioner.

Those nice people at Love Your Bike believe that there is an important role for the Police and Crime Commissioner in cycling promotion because speeding traffic, unsafe driving and cycle theft are key concerns that discourage people walking and cycling.  They wrote to all five PCC candidates to ask what the will on a range of issues to help make cycling safer and reduce bike theft.  The questions are listed below:

 1) Will you support the introduction of a default 20mph speed limit in residential areas?

2) Will you support stricter enforcement of high driving standards?


3)  What policies do you have to ensure that cycle theft and vandalism is taken seriously, to reduce the rate of theft and increase the number of cycles returned to their owners? 

4) What will you do to increase police presence on our streets in order to enforce traffic and anti-social behaviour laws?

5) Will you support the five principles outlined in our manifesto for cycling in Greater Manchester, ‘Getting Moving
Any responses will be available here.


Meanwhile, if you would like to raise any cycling related (or other) concerns with the PCC candidates, their email contact details are listed below (in alphabetical order).
 
Matt Gallagher (Liberal Democrat candidate): Mattgallagher2012@hotmail.co.uk

Tony Lloyd (Labour candidate): tony4gtrmcr@gmail.com

 

Roy Warren (Independent candidate): roywarrensnr@aol.com

Michael Winstanley (Conservative candidate):  michael@michaelwinstanley.co.uk

Steven Woolfe (UKIP candidate): steven.woolfe@ukip.org


Whoever, is elected, and whatever policies they introduce it would be hard not to agree with the Priceconomics blogger's conclusion - "Ultimately, that’s the point everyone seems to agree on - bike thieves are assholes.".

A provocative breakfast at John Rylands !

As part of the University of Manchester's Knowledge Exchange Hub for Environmental Sustainability, I was recently invited to a Planes, Trains and Bicycles breakfast event at John Rylands Library on Deansgate. All the speakers were asked to look ahead to 2030 and with a whole 4.5 minutes consider what transport in Britain would look like in 2030 and what can current trends tell us about the way we’ll choose to move around in the future?

Through discussion and debate these events seek to highlight some of the key knowledge assets and research projects related to environmental sustainability and identify some innovative solutions to the key sustainability challenges faced by city partners and others. Not sure how well my provocation met those aims but thought I would pop it up on the blog in case any who wasn't there is interested.....

Provocation

I am not going to spend much time talking about the health, environmental, social and economic benefits of increasing cycling levels. For me they are a given – and I do not have the time in my 4 and half minute provocation to dwell on them – happy to debate afterwards.

Put simply – increasing the number of people cycling and the number of journeys made by bike is a NO BRAINER.

So – I am going to look forward to both 2015 and 2030.

Why 2015 ? Because I am going to outline how I hope – No today I am going to be Mr positive – and say I am going to outline how local authorities, public sector and private sector organisations in Manchester and Greater Manchester will have started to implement a number of key changes.

Changes that, in my opinion, are crucial to supporting and encouraging more people to cycle – not just for commute journeys, but also for utility trips to the shops and schools, leisure trips to the countryside or to visit friends or family and maybe even a little cycle tourism or sportives...

So now its 2030 and looking back it is now 15 years since Manchester got serious about encouraging and supporting people to choose active travel – cycling and walking.

• 15 years since Greater Manchester introduced 20 mph default speed limits in ALL residential areas. 20 mph where people live. Better for the environment, better for local communities and better for encouraging people to walk and cycle more. 7 times more likely to die if hit at 30mph than at 20mph.

• 15 years since Greater Manchester local authorities started to make planning decisions that ensured that communities could access employment, local services and shops within walking and cycling distances. Helped local shops survive and thrive by levelling the playing field for car parking charges – so that local shops did not have to pay business rates on parking spaces when out-of-town megastore car parks do not.

• 15 years since GM local authorities planning departments ensured that new developments – residential, business and public realm provided secure cycle parking and storage. If you want people to cycle you need to give them somewhere safe to park or store their bikes.

• 15 years since Greater Manchester started to re-allocate roadspace and created a coherent, consistent, continuous and safe network of cycle routes – routes that go to places people want to travel too and routes that are designed to encourage everybody to cycle. (A little hint – Go Dutch !)

• 15 years since Transport for Greater Manchester learnt from our European and North American sister cities about how to properly integrate cycle carriage into all forms of public transport.

• 15 years since Greater Manchester Combined Authority and GM NHS got together and agreed joined up long term funding to support and develop cycling. Average spend on cycling in Copenhagen £40 per head per year – equivalent figure in Manchester £1-2.

• 15 years since Greater Manchester got serious about reducing its CO2 emissions and air pollution emissions from the transport sector.

• 15 years since Greater Manchester appointed a Cycling Tsar to co-ordinate cycling development across the region to provide clear political leadership which is crucial.

So now its 2030.....

The policy changes outlined above have help make our communities more local, better connected and more social.

Local shops are thriving, air quality has increased, CO2 emissions from transport are massively reduced and our roads are less congested, safer and quieter, more children walk and cycle to school, more people cycle to the shops, the parks and to work. People are less stressed and are healthier.

Cycling levels are now well on the way to 2010 European levels – with 40% of all journeys being made by bicycle. However, our European cities are still well ahead of us – with some cities seeing 75% of all journeys being made by bicycle.....

So is this all just a lovely dream ?....

... well we don't have to to gaze into our crystal balls... we could just visit and learn from Freiburg (Germany), Copenhagen (Denmark), Gronigen (Netherlands), Portland (USA) all of whom have cycling levels an order of magnitude higher than Manchester.

Yes, they have had 50 years of implementing the sorts of policies I outlined briefly above – but none of this stuff is rocket science – we just need the political and social will to MAKE IT HAPPEN !

Thank you