- This topic has 24 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by DougD.
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£3.9 million plan to increase cycling numbers in Scotland
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organic355Free MemberPosted 13 years ago
Have we done this one?
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2010/06/25110936
Can only be a good thing.
brFree MemberPosted 13 years agoA £3.9 million plan to increase cycling numbers and have 10 per cent of all journeys by bike by 2020 was unveiled today.
Yer, right.
I'm a cyclist and no way do I do 10% of all journeys by bike, ignoring mileage – what chance the general public…
dufresneoramaFree MemberPosted 13 years agoI gave up the car and now do 90% of all journeys by bike.
This can only be a good thing!
We've got an amazing country for it….so get out and cycle you unhealthy buggers!nickjbFree MemberPosted 13 years agoThey've spent a lot more than that in Bristol with little happening. Scotland is a bit bigger, too. Good luck to them, though
RealManFree MemberPosted 13 years agoI'm a cyclist and no way do I do 10% of all journeys by bike, ignoring mileage – what chance the general public…
I'm a cyclist and do probably >80% of my journeys by bike. Its not unreasonable I think.
TandemJeremyFree MemberPosted 13 years agoI am a cyclist and I do a majority of my travelling by bike. Certainly a majority of journeys probably 90% probably even a majority of miles.
BR – that makes you a car driver with occasional cycle use does it not?
jamescaFree MemberPosted 13 years agomost casual cyclists won't ride in the rain or cold so that leaves less then 10% of the days with cycling conditions, in scotland.
ircFull MemberPosted 13 years agoDream on. I've had a quick look through the full document at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/316212/0100657.pdf
Currently 1% of journeys are by bike. So in 10 years they are going to increase bike journeys tenfold?
It proposes loans for people to buy bikes "• cycle loans for those with no access to a bike; currently only 37% of
households have access to a bicycle (Scottish Household Survey,
2008)."So people can afford laptops, 50" TVs, cars, booze, fags, but they can't buy themselves a bike?
It proposes an online journey planner as it could be crucial in getting people to take short journeys by bike. Surely people know their way round their local area?.
On my quick read through I saw no mention of intermediate targets. I'm always cynical about targets that don't have to be met until another two parliaments from now. By the time this plan has succeeded (yeah right) or failed the politician who proposed it will be long gone.
As for practical measures? To hit 10% we want more people to commute to work. Some employers don't make it easy. There should be steps taken to make employers with more than say 20 employees to provide lockers and a shower.
No mention of anything like that in the document. Last year I did as many miles on my bikes as I did in my car – around 7k for each. This year I'm changing jobs. One base is 12 miles away. Easy cycle commute but no showers.
skidartistFree MemberPosted 13 years agomost casual cyclists won't ride in the rain or cold so that leaves less then 10% of the days with cycling conditions, in scotland.
Blimey, which scotland do you live in. You should come and live in my scotland, your scotland sounds rubbish.
richmtbFull MemberPosted 13 years agoThis is undoubtedly total pie in the sky but putting cycling on the political agenda is never a bad thing.
I just wish the money was spent more sensibly and evenly. On my commute to work (from my house on the ground that use to be Glasgow zoo to the west end) I pass through two "cycle friendly zones". One (west end) has a segregated two way cycle lane and segregated lanes running the opposite direction to the one way steets so cyclist can negotiate the one way system there safely. The other (east-end) has a poster hanging from a lamp post to let you know where the start of the "cycle friendly zone" is, because without the poster you would have no clue!
MSPFull MemberPosted 13 years agoThey need to get past this "cash spend" announcements and just get on with building decent separate cycle paths.
Look at Germany as an example, it started investing in cycle paths in the early 80's and now has a pretty impressive network, there are still problems in city centres as all modes of transport compete for space, but a much better state of affairs than the UK.
It will take time, decades, but its not going to get done by just promoting cycling as an activity. Of course decades is not a timescale understood by British politicians, they can't take credit for results that manifest 20 – 30 years from now.
brFree MemberPosted 13 years agoBR – that makes you a car driver with occasional cycle use does it not?
That was my point, I use my bike when I can – what chance of the non-cycling public doing any more?
TandemJeremyFree MemberPosted 13 years agobr – in edinburgh there is a significant % of commuters use a bike
Why can't you use your bike more? Many of us manage to do so.
downgradeFree MemberPosted 13 years agoAs for practical measures? To hit 10% we want more people to commute to work. Some employers don't make it easy. There should be steps taken to make employers with more than say 20 employees to provide lockers and a shower.
No mention of anything like that in the document.
Page 15 (I noticed it when I skimmed through earlier)
projectFree MemberPosted 13 years agoWhy not just give everyone in scotland a few hundred quid to buy a bike.
druidhFree MemberPosted 13 years agob r – Member
BR – that makes you a car driver with occasional cycle use does it not?That was my point, I use my bike when I can be bothered – what chance of the non-cycling public doing any more?
FIFY
TandemJeremyFree MemberPosted 13 years agoDruidh – you have a car don't you. How often do you drive it to work> IIRC you seem to manage to cycle most days>
In Edinburgh cycling is the fastest way around the city – proven in tests ( ell motocycles won the longer runs but its faster than a car)
ircFull MemberPosted 13 years ago"Page 15 (I noticed it when I skimmed through earlier"
I stand corrected. It's a bit unambitious though.
"Action 6: To encourage private sector employers to become Cycle
Friendly Employers by offering loan support for workplace cycling
facilities.
Outcome 6: In 2010/11 at least 8 private sector organisations will benefit
from an interest free loan to encourage a minimum of 10% of their
workforce to cycle to work."8 companies a year? I don't see that making much of a dent in the 99% of non bike journeys. The cash involved for that part is 150K. Hardly throwing money at the problem.
Not that facilities are the problem for most people. I used to work in a building with secure indoor parking and good changing and shower facilities. There were only 2 regular cyclists out of a couple of hundred employees.
The usual comments I got from other employees were that they weren't fit enough to cycle to work, the traffic was too dangerous, and why wasn't I wearing a helmet?
The utility cycling culture in many parts of Scotland is close to non existent. I'd bet my mortgage that the 10% target won't be hit in 10 years.
druidhFree MemberPosted 13 years agoTandemJeremy – Member
Druidh – you have a car don't you. How often do you drive it to work> IIRC you seem to manage to cycle most days>I cycle in 80-90% of commutes. The biggest incentive is the cost of parking and the fact that I get a lie-in if I cycle 'coz that's faster than driving. However, if I have to do "errands" for my Mum, I usually end up with the car.
TandemJeremyFree MemberPosted 13 years agoirc – the utility cycling is strong in Edinburgh – I have been looking for numbers but can't find any but simple observation tells us it is significant numbers of commuters
ircFull MemberPosted 13 years agoTJ
There is a big variation from place to place. I was in central London for a couple of days recently and couldn't believe the amount of bikes on the road. In a way though Edinburgh and London are easy. Congested city centres where anyone can see a bike makes sense. Getting people to choose bikes where the alternatives of the car or the bus or train are faster is the challenge. When there are more people driving to gyms to walk or run on machines than using a bike for short local journeys we have a long way to go.There are a couple of brothers I've seen cycling home from the local secondary school. They stand out because they the only pupils out of over 1000 that cycle to school regularly as far as I can see. They are cycling properly on the road and taking the centre of the lane at roundabouts and so on while also using as many low traffic roads as possible.
I don't think we'll ever get past 10% of journeys by bike if we can't even get school kids to use bikes. Once people are in their 20s and signed up to the car culture it's hard getting them back.
BushwackedFree MemberPosted 13 years agoLooks very positive and I can't believe people are complaining about it – if they'd not done anything we'd never have mentioned it!!!
Anyway – Does anyone know if there are incentives in England to help businesses promote cycling?
juanFree MemberPosted 13 years agohum
Did all my commute using bike train bike. total journey time (ok hypothetical journey time train never runs on time) between 60 to 70 minutes.Now car journey around the same time, maybe 10 minute less depending on the traffic.
Now I have just filled up my tax form. If I was travelling by car, the amount of taxes I would be paying will be 877€ instead of 1477€ that I will have to pay now that I travel by bike. Go and figure.
MSPFull MemberPosted 13 years agoIf you are claiming your commute against taxes then you are cheating the system.
edit: oops just noticed thats euros, guess its not the british system 😉
DougDFull MemberPosted 13 years agoReckon this is a good idea, the main thing they need to do is improve the state of the roads. Anyone out there with good ideas as to how achieving the 10% target should write into the Cycle Scheme at Edinburgh City Council. Plus if there are any parts of the plan that you don't think work or are an inefficient use of the resources, then send in an objection to that plan.
Just a thought
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