A consortium led by AECOM working with the University of the West of England and The Tavistock Institute is undertaking an independent evaluation of the Cycling City and Towns (CCT) programme. They are working with Sustrans (who are leading a programme of monitoring activity) to measure the extent to which the anticipated outcomes and wider impacts have been generated by the CCT programme and to measure its efficiency, effectiveness and value for money.

An interim report has been published which provides a summary of the initial emerging evidence from the evaluation of the CCT programme.

• Evaluation of the Cycling City and Towns Programme interim report, 19 January 2011

Also available to download are complete baseline survey datasets and tables.

• Evaluation of the cycling city and towns programme: baseline data

Analysis of the baseline survey data has been undertaken to investigate the potential health benefits of increasing cycling in the CCTs.

• Investigating the potential health benefits of increasing cycling in the Cycling City and Towns, 24 April 2012

Background to the Cycling City and Towns Programme

Between April 2008 and March 2011, the Department for Transport, the Department of Health and Cycling England invested over £140m to promote cycling and to address a historic decline in cycling activity. Part of this investment (around £50m) was used to create one Cycling City and eleven Cycling Towns (CCTs). Alongside matched funding from the participating local authorities, the investment aimed to deliver a step change in the provision of facilities and the promotion of cycling for travel and leisure purposes, leading to wider impacts in areas such as health, decongestion, reduced carbon emissions and accessibility.

The programme built on the experience of the six original Cycling Demonstration Towns (CDTs), which began receiving increased levels of funding in 2005, and which reported interim evaluation results in 2009.

• Analysis and synthesis of evidence on the effects of investment in six Cycling Demonstration Towns, 9 November 2009
• Cycling Demonstration Towns: results from the first three years

Evaluation Approach

The aims of the evaluation are to:

• measure the extent to which the anticipated outcomes and wider impacts have been achieved through the CCT programme and to assess whether it has provided value for money
• assess the effectiveness of interventions, including those targeted towards specific population groups and journeys
• understand the factors which drive local travel behaviours and how these can be influenced to encourage cycling behaviours
• explore the approaches which have been critical to the success of the programme
• generate evidence of good practice which can be used to inform the design and delivery of future local initiatives aimed at encouraging cycling

The evaluation approach has been informed by the evaluation framework developed to assess the impacts of small-scale, low-cost transport schemes which make ‘Better Use’ of the existing network.

• Evaluating transport schemes which make better use of the existing network

The evaluation uses a “Theory of Change” approach which assesses the implementation of the programme from its rationale to its inputs and outputs, to test whether the programme has caused the intended and unintended outcomes and wider impacts.

• Guidance for transport impact evaluations (section 6.2), 17 March 2010

This approach has guided the development of data collection activities, which include:

• large-scale pre-and post-intervention surveys of households in CCT programme areas,
• qualitative interviews and accompanied cycle journeys with residents in each CCT,
• interviews with local delivery teams and local and national stakeholders, and
• monitoring trends in cycling activity.