A Strategy for Increasing Walking and Cycling

Transcription

1 37 5 A Strategy for Increasing Walking and Cycling 5. Increasing Walking and Cycling through Developing Greenways

2 38 5 Increasing Walking and Cycling through Developing Greenways If our society decided that more walking and cycling was an essential part of how we travel in the future a decision driven by the need for a fitter population and a determination to reduce its CO 2 emissions from transport, then a wide range of programmes, both personal and national would need to be put into effect. These might include advertising, personal travel marketing, fiscal incentives, congestion charging, the redesign of communities, more compact planning, insurance policies favouring active travel, taxation and a whole range of measures designed to shift the balance of attraction away from the private motor car to journeys being made by foot and cycle. How People Travel % of trips per person If we were to set our sights on reaching 50% of all journeys in a particular town by foot and cycle, then the shape of our travelling would be very different from today s. Instead of cycling forming an infinitesimal proportion of the whole, it would grow to contribute perhaps more trips than does walking at present. We can get some idea of what might happen by looking at existing towns which have already achieved high levels of active travel walking and cycling. 73% (all other modes) Chart showing the current % of all trips made on foot and by cycle in the UK 1% 26% 50% (all other modes) 20% Chart showing the sort of split expected if a 50% total was achieved 30% Diagram showing the proportions of all journeys travelling by different modes in selected towns From the perspective of this Connect2 and Greenways Guide, it is worth considering what might be the consequences for this programme, should this change begin to happen. For example, would walking and cycling both increase, to the same degree, separately or together? Walking would still be hugely popular, but cycling would have to deliver most of the longer trips, up to 3 miles on average, and even some longer ones, and because cycling would be so commonplace it would even be more convenient for some of the longer trips which are currently made on foot (1-2 miles). In this context cycling should be seen not as eroding the number of walking trips, but as an extension of them by giving people, individuals, a greater range and flexibility. Connect2 and Greenway Design Guide

3 39 Of course the achievement of anything as radical as is already common place in a good number of European towns will not happen overnight, nor can physical measures alone deliver such a change. It will require a real demand by society and considerable changes to how we plan and manage our affairs. But in the immediate short-term we have the challenge of how to persuade a society which mostly does not cycle, to start doing so. Programmes and strategies for reintroducing the public to cycling, many of whom have not cycled for years will be crucial. Greenways and traffic-free routes have an important role to play here. 5.1 Greenways Within this context of much more cycling as well as maintaining walking levels, Greenways must serve and encourage both. It is for this reason that this Guide provides for joint and multiple use throughout. Sustrans has always seen Greenways as having a wide range of functions including: Being a place, free from traffic, to learn to cycle again Delivering a high profile route which raises the status of walking and cycling Focussing popular usage so that walkers, and particularly cyclists, are visible in large numbers, and as a consequence acting as a catalyst for change, as decision makers appreciate that the public will cycle if given half a chance Creating routes of particular value to the elderly and those with disabilities who may be unable to cope with either traffic or rough field paths Being a public place where it is natural to travel with strangers, to meet, stop and talk - to be a democracy A linear park giving local access to a large number of people Forming a wildlife corridor giving access to the countryside and linking with any number of pockets of interesting natural areas. The waiting room at Warmley near Bristol 5. Increasing Walking and Cycling through Developing Greenways

4 40 proportion of cyclists 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 5.2 Specific Greenway Projects 0% very safe moderately safe Every town and city needs at least one or more major Greenways where it is perfectly clear that pedestrians and cyclists are valued travellers. Such attractive traffic-free routes are the best place to learn to cycle again (15% of cyclists in Sustrans surveys on these routes say they are new to cycling or have started again). These Greenways are also the place for local recreation encouraging the public to come here, to walk and cycle rather than drive further afield. It is worth noting that even in Copenhagen, a City with very high levels of cycling, where almost everyone cycles, the public feel safe on traffic-free routes, as this extract from a recent study in Copenhagen shows. slightly safe slightly unsafe moderately unsafe mixed traffic cycle lane cycle track very unsafe Figure 3. Division of answers to questions put to cyclists about their feelings of safety on roads with mixed traffic, cycle lanes and cycle tracks. (Source: Road safety and perceived risk of cycle facilities in Copenhagen) Cyclists feel most secure on roads with cycle tracks (separate paths) and most at risk on roads with mixed traffic. This is true for all cyclists, irrespective of their gender, age, purpose in cycling or familiarity with their route. Figure 3 shows that conditions in mixed traffic create considerably more feelings of risk than conditions on cycle tracks or cycle lanes. Cycle lanes (marked out on the road) are a middle path so to speak: somewhat less secure than cycle tracks, but considerably more secure and satisfactory than mixed traffic. Increased car traffic leads incidentally to cyclists feeling more at risk. Results regarding cyclists security and satisfaction generally show considerable correlation. From: Road safety and perceived risk of cycle facilities in Copenhagen By Søren Underlien Jensen, Trafitec, suj@ trafitec.dk Clause Rosenhilde, Road & Park, City of Copenhagen, claros@tmf.kk.dk Niels Jensen, Road and Park, City of Copenhagen, niejen@tmf.kk.dk Safe Routes to School focus on ensuring that pupils get into the habit of walking and cycling, a habit which they can take through to adulthood. Whilst there will be some opportunities for wholly traffic-free Greenways, more usually these routes to school will be on Green Streets and Promenades, with each school seen as the hub of a walking and cycling network programme, and the streets approaching the school entrance progressively more and more friendly and encouraging walking and cycling. Growing in confidence in Swindon Connect2 and Greenway Design Guide

5 41 Another replicable Greenway programme would focus on attractive routes linking to public transport, so that rail and bus passengers, who cannot take their car on the major part of the journey anyway, have a real incentive not to use their car for any part of it. Greenway routes to Health are essential. We would like to see every hospital and health centre drawing staff and patients in on foot and cycle via Greenways, the nature of which will bring about a healthier and fitter population on the way. A bike shed designed by students for their school in York Similarly, every sports centre and leisure complex which promotes fitness as an essential component of their business should set high targets for their public travelling to the centre in an active manner, and Greenway creation should be an intrinsic part of each such development. % Changing travel behaviour at Addenbrooke s GB average journey to work car use bus travel cycling walking Source: Walking and Cycling Success Stories, DfT Cycle parking at Cambridge Station Cycling to Addenbrooke s Hospital 5. Increasing Walking and Cycling through Developing Greenways

6 Legacy Greenways: a proposed network of routes for east London In this context, the London Olympics form the greatest opportunity of all for making a step change to an active population and every action possible should be taken to enable, encourage, and reward, those who get to these Games by their own effort. Nationally renowned Greenways have a huge part to play in encouraging the public to be more ambitious, and to go on holiday by foot or cycle. If by this means the very considerable distances travelled by car, or even plane, can be hauled back because the public take up cycle touring again, then Greenways will have made a significant contribution towards reducing CO 2 from transport. Cyclists relaxing by a Scottish Loch Connect2 and Greenway Design Guide