Love Cycling – Go Dutch!

Lynn Sloman01654 781358

lynn@transportforqualityoflife.comwww.transportforqualityoflife.com

Aim to increase cycling by 73% in two years - an extra 1.2 million cycling trips

Get Britain Cycling recommendations

• Cycling budget of at least £10 per person per year, rising to £20

• Local and national bodies to allocate funds to cycling that are at least equal to the proportion of journeys by bike

• Funding from government departments including Health, Education, Sport and Business, as well as DfT

Three Questions

• Is it really possible to create a culture of cycling in a city that doesn’t already have it?....the story of how the Spanish city of Seville ‘went Dutch’

• How quickly can you ‘grow’ cycling?....the experience of the Cycling Demonstration Towns

• What are the key ingredients?...what we learnt from the Cycling Demonstration Towns / Cycling City and Towns

Seville4th largest city in Spain (700,000 population)Big roads…but also big traffic congestion ‘Too hot’ to be natural cycling territory

In six years: Cycling increased from 0.2% to 6.6% of all trips

(and from 2,500 to 66,000 cyclists per day)

>2000% increase!

Not just bike lanes…• Bike hire scheme: 2500

bicycles at 250 pick-up points

• Free use of 200 folding bikes for university students / staff

• 250 bikes for free use from city centre bus station

• 5700 cycle parking spaces

Women now make up 50% of cyclists (up from 20%)

How much did it cost?

• €30 million • 140 km network• 4 years• 700,000 population

= €11 per citizen per year

Cycling Demonstration Towns% change in automatic cycle counts (2005 = 100%)

2005 2006 2007 2008 200980

90

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

Darlington

Exeter

Brighton and Hove

Lancaster w Morecambe

Derby

Aylesbury

All

Sloman et al. (2009) Analysis and synthesis of evidence on the effects of investment in six Cycling Demonstration Towns

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

CDT CCT

Average count per counter at baseline

Av

era

ge

an

nu

al c

ha

ng

e in

av

era

ge

co

un

t p

er

co

un

ter

6 CDTs and 12 CCTs

Sustrans RMU and Sloman: unpublished analysis

What was the secret ingredient of their success?

For the recipe to work at all, there are several vital ingredients that must act together…

Why is this?

Different ingredients added together can tackle all the different things that stop someone changing to cycling

(Potential) cyclist

Habit: ‘I always drive’

Social norms: ‘All my friends drive’

Knowledge gap: No ‘mental map’ of pleasant cycle routes

Objective reality: Poor quality cycle routes, busy roads, dispersed development

What stops people cycling?

SOLUTION: High quality continuous ‘signature’ routes for all main radial corridors

OBJECTIVE

BARRIER ‘No safe quiet route for the journey I make’

Aylesbury BrightonSeville(!)

SOLUTION: Advanced stop lines and cycle crossings at main roads

Edinburgh. Credit: Tony Russell

OBJECTIVE

BARRIER‘The cycle route gives out and ‘dumps me’ just when I need it most’

The AA Edinburgh: Tony Russell

SOLUTION: Cycle parking at key destinations including employers and shops

Cleary Stevens Consulting

OBJECTIVE

BARRIER‘There’s nowhere secure to park at my destination’

London: TfL

SOLUTION: Bike loan scheme so you can ‘try before you buy’

OBJECTIVE

BARRIER‘I don’t own a bike!’

KNOWLEDGE

BARRIER ‘I don’t know where the cycle routes go!’

SOLUTION: Widely distributed cycle maps + comprehensive cycle route signage

SOCIAL NORM

BARRIERSOLUTION: Cycling Festival – suddenly,

it seems like everyone is on their bike

‘I never see anybody else on a bike!’

SOLUTION: Workplace Cycle Challenge – encourage everyone to give cycling a go

‘I always get to work by car…it’s too much trouble to change’HABIT

BARRIER

New cyclist

Break habit: Give a reason to try something new

Change the social norm: Even if just for a day

Give information: Maps, signs, travel advice

Objective reality: Build good cycle routes

So what have the Cycling Cities and Towns done?

Mayor of Seville Spring 2011

“What we’ve done goes well beyond more cycle tracks and has become a tool to transform the city. There has been an extraordinary change of mindset. We have won a challenge to make our city more human.”