Cycling England

 
Cycling already has a great presence in Cambridge: its flat terrain, green urban space and compact city centre - permeable to people cycling - creates ideal conditions for bike travel. Cambridge enjoys the highest levels of cycling not just of all the Cycling City and Towns, but of any town and city in the UK. Levels of cycling are somewhat lower in the surrounding villages and there is great potential in these outlying areas to increase levels of cycling to match those found in the centre of Cambridge.

Cambridge is undergoing a sustained period of growth with 47,000 new homes due to be built, and the population of Cambridge set to rise by 7.9 per cent in the next decade. Many of the people who move to Cambridge will be coming from areas where cycling levels are much closer to the national average, so one of the key aims for Cambridge’s programme is to expand its cycling culture, to ensure levels of cycling in new developments and surrounding villages match existing levels in central Cambridge. This surge in population will also put huge strains on current transport infrastructure, so to prevent crippling congestion, the level of trips by sustainable transport options will have to rise significantly.

An ambitious programme of new and improved cycling infrastructure is underway. In the centre of Cambridge, traffic lanes on Hills Road Bridge will be revised to provide wide and continuous cycle lanes. This bridge is currently used by around 5,300 cyclists every day, and the new lanes will help make the journey safer for these existing users as well as attracting more people on bikes to the route. Cycling lanes and facilities will also be improved on key roads around the city and 20mph zones will be introduced in the centre.

Upgraded and new routes will also be established outside the city in the South Cambridgeshire district, for example from Sawston to Abington and Harston to Cambridge. This will help increase the number of village to village journeys that are cycled, as well as improve links to the city. The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway is also currently under construction, and routes will be put in place to ensure cyclists can easily access the off-road cycleway that runs alongside the busway - stretching the 15 miles from St Ives to Cambridge.

There are plans for increased cycle parking facilities in Cambridge, and the Travel for Work Partnership (TfW)* will run a ‘Take a Stand’ Scheme, with 50 per cent of the costs of cycle parking provided to employers in need of spaces. To further support workplaces, funding will be available for companies to run events such as Dr Bike and cycle breakfasts. The Cycle Cambridge team offers workplace Bicycle User Groups (BUGs) further support through regular visits and guidance and the team will run be running a Workplace Cycle Challenge in June.

Cycle parking schemes have also been implemented at several schools. As well as this, Bikeability training levels 1 and 2 continue to be delivered in schools with 75 per cent take up from children in Year 6 so far. Adult cycle training has also been rolled out - with the number of adults trained in 2009 increasing from 49 in 2008 to over 200, and the team plan to train 200 teenagers in Bikeability level 3 in 2010.

Marketing and promotion will continue to be a key focus for the team in the next year, not least in promoting and publicising the newly built cycle routes. Advertising campaigns on buses have focussed on commuting, families cycling together and young women cycling. Campaigns over the next 18 months will include cycling for fitness/health, the promotion of Bikeweek events and adult cycle training.

* TfW is one of Cycle Cambridge’s partners. Established in 1997 the team works with employers on travel initiatives and has a well established network of employers of varying sizes.

Visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/cycling for more information.