Exeter
Devon is a natural playground and Exeter sits at its heart, surrounded by estuaries, coasts, forests and moorland. Exeter already had a network of around 50km of cycle routes when it was given Cycling Demonstration Town status in 2005, but Devon County Council created a further 16km in its first 18 months as a Cycling Town.
The town has been encouraging cycling take-up among pupils and workers: some schools are now reporting upwards of 20% of trips by bike on a regular basis and 9% of employees are now cycling regularly to work, compared to 4% in the 2001 national census.
The Cycling Town programme for 2008-11 will entice people to ‘learn or return’ to cycling. With the Exe Estuary Trail and Haldon Forest on the doorstep, residents and visitors can experience cycling in a beautiful, traffic-free environment, then return to Exeter and use the cycle network for commuter or utility trips.
Infrastructure priorities for the 2008-11 programme include extending cycle routes to communities outside the city , creating secure parking facilities, continuing links to schools and employment areas plus a number of public transport interchanges . This will be complemented by an ambitious ‘Smarter Choices’ programme including personalised travel planning, Bikeability , school engagement (including Bike It ) and support for workplace BUGs (bike user groups). An area-wide marketing and communications campaign will raise the profile of all elements of the programme among key target audiences ; the young and old, those in education or employment and leisure and everyday cyclists .
To find out more about Exeter’s progress, please visit www.devon.gov.uk/cycleexeter or contact:
Zsolt Schuller
Devon County Council, Lucombe House, Topsham Road, Exeter, EX2 4QW
01392 382811
zsolt.schuller@devon.gov.uk
