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information, marketing, training and events
8. Cycling and walking information, marketing,
training and events
8.1 General approach in each town
8.1.1 Overview
Although the initial research into the effectiveness of smart measures (Cairns et al., 2004) did not include an assessment of cycling and walking promotion as a distinct initiative, all of the Sustainable Travel Towns developed comprehensive programmes to encourage cycling, along with some initiatives focused on walking. In our initial scoping interviews (conducted prior to the development and completion of the main phase of interview work), it became clear that these measures warranted investigation in their own right.
The cycling and walking programmes in the three towns had several common elements. All of the towns ran their own cycling festivals, together with a variety of other cycling and walking events. They also produced cycling and walking information, including maps, which proved to be particularly popular. All three towns provided cycle training for children delivered through the schools, while both Darlington and Worcester offered cycle training for adults and also set up cycle loan schemes.
In the course of the project, all of the towns expanded their cycle parking and initiated systematic improvements to their other cycling and walking infrastructure, such as the installation of branded cycle route signs. In Peterborough, branding and other innovative techniques were used to create two walking and cycling routes. In Worcester, officers also experimented with branded cycle signs in conjunction with the roll-out of their personal travel planning programme. At the time of the interview, Darlington had recently embarked on a branding and signing programme for seven new radial cycle routes to and from the town centre.
There were important differences in the extent of the towns’ initial cycling infrastructure and the improvements they secured during the project, that would be expected to affect their potential for encouraging cycling. Darlington initially had relatively little cycling infrastructure, but benefited during the Sustainable Travel Town period from becoming a Cycling Demonstration Town. This brought in substantial additional funding, and, consequently, the town was in the process of developing a far more coherent cycling network. As a designated New Town, Peterborough had the advantage of an extensive network of off-road cycle routes from the outset of the project. Worcester, whilst it had more cycle infrastructure than Darlington, had a shortage of utility cycle routes and on- road cycling provision. However, the Sustainable Travel Town programme helped in securing lottery funding towards a new scheme for a pedestrian and cycling bridge and associated improvements, and, at the time of our interviews, this work was soon to commence.
During the Sustainable Travel Town period, Darlington also experienced significant changes to walking conditions in the town centre, with the implementation of Darlington’s Pedestrian Heart, a major project to improve the public realm.
Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010)
information, marketing, training and events
At the outset of the programme, according to the baseline travel survey (Socialdata & Sustrans, 2005), total levels of walking and cycling combined were similar in the three towns. As a percentage of all trips, they accounted for 26% in Darlington, 27% in Peterborough and 28% in Worcester. However, there was more cycling in Peterborough (5%) than in Worcester (3%) and least cycling in Darlington (1%). These differences appear to reflect differences in the towns’ initial levels of cycling provision. Levels of walking were the same in Darlington and Worcester (25%) and were slightly lower in Peterborough (22%).
Details of the programmes developed in each town are outlined below.
8.1.2 Darlington
In addition to receiving funding as a Sustainable Travel Town, Darlington was selected in 2005 by Cycling England to become one of six Cycling Demonstration Towns. As a result, the authority was awarded an additional £1.5 million in external funding for cycling. This allowed both an increase in staff capacity and the implementation of seven radial cycle routes linking into the town centre, using a combination of off-road cycle tracks and quiet residential roads. The scheme included branded signs with a separate colour for each route, together with information boards, with cycling times given in preference to distances. By the end of 2008, this branding had been implemented on two routes, with plans for three more in 2009, and completion in 2010.
During the Sustainable Travel Town period, a number of other walking or cycling routes were created or enhanced to improve access to school and employment sites and leisure opportunities. Other measures included the installation of 11 toucan crossings, which helped to improve access across the inner ring road to the town centre. Between 2005 and 2008, the length of cycle routes in Darlington roughly doubled, rising from 19km to 40km.
Cycle parking improvements secured in the course of the project included 100 additional cycle spaces for the town centre (as part of the Pedestrian Heart development); 700 extra spaces in schools and the introduction of cycle stands, and in some cases showers, at a number of employment sites. The council increasingly pushed to secure maximum cycle parking and minimum car parking in planning applications for new developments.
There was also an audit of walking routes into the town centre, conducted by the environmental group Living Streets. This led to minor improvements, as did an assessment of dropped-kerb routes, made in partnership with Darlington Association on Disability. From summer 2005 to summer 2007, construction was underway for the Pedestrian Heart public realm project, which introduced new public spaces and public art initiatives spread over 1.7ha in the centre of the town.
Apart from route branding on the radial routes, the main promotional/training initiatives introduced during the Sustainable Travel Town period to encourage cycling and walking were as follows:
A Festival of Cycling – held for four years in the largest park in town, this event attracted around 1,000 people, and was organised to appeal to a broad range of participants – including new and experienced cyclists, families and older people. It
Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010)
information, marketing, training and events
8.1.3 Peterborough
At the outset of the Sustainable Travel Town project, Peterborough had a fairly comprehensive cycle network, comprised of over 200km of cycle routes, including 12 main cycle ways, which were each about 3-6km long, and a rural ‘Green Wheel’, of just over 70km, around the city. In addition, cycle routes and footways were being built as part of new development in areas such as Hampton. In 2004, the council commissioned a cycle network review, which identified the main trip attractors on the network, with each route typically serving 10-20 key destinations. The review highlighted the network’s gaps and suggested route improvements, prioritised according to their ability to meet demand. The council subsequently used Cycling England’s free local authority support service to carry out an audit of the 12 main cycle routes. At the time of our interviews in mid-2008, some minor improvements had been made to cycle routes, but more substantial upgrades were planned. The council had also started work to develop a journey planner for walking trips and had recently commissioned a survey of cycle routes so that Peterborough could be included in the cycling journey planner that was being developed by Transport Direct.
From 2004 to 2008, the authority installed more than 100 cycle stands across 27 sites in the city.
The council also took steps to improve the city’s walking network, by commissioning Intelligent Space Partnership to identify the primary walking network for the city. This began with an assessment of key trip generators (e.g. health facilities, schools and colleges, leisure and cultural facilities, major transport interchanges). In each of these categories, buildings were weighted according to the numbers using them, indicating the walking routes likely to be useful for the greatest number of trips. By the time of the interview, the team were planning a further audit of the top 10-15 routes, with a view to identifying key barriers and addressing these systematically, using funding from the Local Transport Plan (LTP).
A route-branding project was regarded by the interviewees as an especially innovative aspect of their work to encourage walking and cycling. This focused on two walking and cycling routes, one from the station to the city centre, and another over a distance of about one kilometre in a residential area. The project used solar-powered LED road studs, brass plaques and coloured thermoplastic signs, set into the path. The aim was to improve way-finding, especially at night, when conventional signs would be harder to follow, and to reduce conflict between pedestrians and cyclists on a shared use path. The residential route was intended to provide direct access to a major shopping centre, through an area of housing where a ‘rabbit warren’ of small paths was confusing to negotiate. Having tried this approach, officers were keen to extend it to other primary walking and cycling routes.
In addition, the following promotional/training initiatives were implemented to encourage cycling and walking during the Sustainable Travel Town programme:
Cycle Revolution – this was initially held as a one-week event in 2005, but in 2006 it was extended to a festival lasting several months across the summer. It involved a wide range of activities, many of which were family-oriented, including family bike rides, Sunday cycle events, ‘beat the clock’ time trials, BMX displays and races, sponsored
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information, marketing, training and events
charity bike rides, Bike to School Week, and security marking for bikes. In 2006, nearly 3,500 people participated in these events;
Activities organised around national ‘weeks’ – these included ‘Ghost Walks’ around the city, organised by blue badge guides, and a mobile phone prize draw for all pupils who cycled at least four days during Bike to School Week. In 2007 a ‘pedometer challenge’, for council and NHS staff, involved recording their walking activity over a week and then trying to walk more in the following week, with prizes such as iPods for people achieving the biggest increase in activity. The council also worked with the primary care trust to promote their regular health walks in different areas of the city;
Information materials – these included a cycle map for the whole city, printed on splash-proof paper (which, from August 2006-May 2008, sold nearly 400 copies a month); and separate local cycling maps for each of the five areas covered in the personal travel planning project. Leaflets were produced providing information about cycling by train (with advice on folding bikes); teaching children to cycle; and the health benefits of walking (with details of walking groups and ‘bus walks’);
Cycle training in schools – this was not yet delivered to the national standard. The council was also hoping to start delivering family and adult cycle training from summer 2008.
Officers said key partners in the initiative included the NHS, the local cycle forum, Peterborough Local Access Forum and the council’s engineering and road safety team.
8.1.4 Worcester
Interviewees in Worcester considered their work to encourage cycling and walking to be one of the strongest aspects of their Smarter Choice Programme. This was in spite of the considerable shortcomings identified in the town’s cycle network.
In the course of the Sustainable Travel Town period, a number of improvements were made to Worcester’s walking and cycling infrastructure. In 2004/5, the pedestrianised high street was resurfaced and enhanced at a cost of £1.5 million. Between 2004/5 and 2007/8, more than £800,000 was spent on other fairly small-scale engineering projects across the city. The most expensive of these was the upgrading of a footway to provide a shared-use surface for about a mile alongside the ring road in 2005/06. There were also other improved cycle/walking links, two new zebra crossings outside schools, schemes to improve signing for cyclists and pedestrians, and an expansion in city centre cycle parking. In addition, 20 cycle racks with maps cases, providing capacity for 120 bicycles, were purchased by the sustainable travel team and given to schools and businesses with travel plans.
Not withstanding earlier improvements, a cycle audit published in 2007 (Integrated Transport Planning Ltd and Cleary Stevens Consulting) found that the cycle network was characterised by mainly off-road facilities.^1 It highlighted that there was a lack of on-road provision, with cyclists poorly integrated into the flow of traffic. The audit also found that the city’s longer routes catered for leisure rather than utility cycling and lacked connections to the city centre. Meanwhile, an ‘excellent’ river bridge for non-motorised
(^1) In 2008, Worcester had 66.7km of cycle network in the town of which 53.2km was traffic-free routes These figures are taken from Worcestershire County Council’s (unsuccessful) bid for Worcester to become a Cycling Demonstration Town.
Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010)
information, marketing, training and events
‘Dr Bike’ cycle repair/maintenance surgeries - these were held at public places and large employment sites during Bike Week in 2007 and 2008;
A free county-wide cycle loan scheme – launched in April 2008, this offered six- month’s use of a newly-purchased bicycle to anyone across the county. Around 200 bikes were on loan at the time of the interview. Two earlier schemes run during the project had offered bicycles for use by teachers and loan of a refurbished bike to employees, available through employers with travel plans. In March 2008, 15 parent and child tandem bikes were purchased and given to Worcester schools with travel plans, for loan to parents;
Cycle training for adults – this was offered free on a one-to-one basis from the beginning of 2007;
Cycle training and pedestrian road safety for schools – these were organised by the council’s road safety team.
Partners in the initiatives included Sustrans; colleagues in the Countryside Service involved in promoting Healthy Walks; and the road safety adviser engaged in cycle and pedestrian training for schools. Cooperation with the West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership (in which the county was a partner) resulted in mutual promotion and links. The sustainable travel team was closely involved with Motov8, a local charity working with disaffected young people on activities with bicycles, cars and motorbikes, which ran the Dr Bike sessions as well as refurbishing second hand bikes used in various schemes.
8.1.5 Targeting
In both Peterborough and Worcester, officers commented that the towns’ cycling festivals had attracted families. Officers in Darlington said their events had been designed to attract a wide variety of people, but also included some initiatives intended to reach specific groups, for example women-only cycle rides. In Peterborough, officers said that their route branding exercise had been implemented in a specific residential estate because it was difficult to navigate on foot. In Worcester, interviewees said they had targeted leisure cyclists in the belief that more leisure use would lead to more utility use. All three towns had initiatives designed to reach schoolchildren. Other targets mentioned in Worcester were parents, teachers, other employees and the personal travel planning target group. In future, Worcester officers thought they might focus more on walking and cycling for commuting, particularly in the light of rising fuel costs. They were also interested in making links with the NHS and the health agenda.
8.1.6 Ease of implementation
In both Darlington and Peterborough, officers said that initiatives to promote cycling had been helped by contextual advantages: in Darlington, the fact that the town was relatively flat and compact and in Peterborough, the existence of a good cycling network from the outset of the project. Nevertheless, Peterborough interviewees felt that the demands of focusing on walking and cycling infrastructure had left insufficient time to devote to the full gamut of smart initiatives, such as cycling events and adult cycle training.
In both Peterborough and Worcester, interviewees argued that promoting cycling was easier than promoting walking because it was a more clearly defined task. Interviewees in
Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010)
information, marketing, training and events
Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010)
Worcester said that, in focus groups, residents had identified ‘not having a bicycle’ and ‘not being able to cycle’ as the main barriers to cycling, and that the team had therefore focused on addressing these barriers through cycle training and a cycle loan scheme, both of which had been successful. Their perception was that promoting cycling was ‘really easy’, the more so because it was an accepted leisure activity.
8.2 Scale of promotional activity for cycling and walking
Table 8.1 provides an overview of the scale of promotional activity for walking and cycling in the three towns, including where possible an indication of the number of people engaged in each type of activity.
In Peterborough and Worcester, market research gives an indication of the extent to which residents had noticed this activity and found the services and information offered to be of use. A brand awareness survey in Peterborough, conducted in 2007, found that 12% of residents had seen or heard about the 2006 Cycle Revolution festival of cycling events and 1% had taken part; 44% were aware of the Peterborough cycling map; 25% were aware of local area cycling guides; and 9-13% were aware of various cycling leaflets. In Worcester, market research found that 44% of residents recalled some aspect of the Choose how you move campaign, and the two modes most likely to be recalled as having been promoted were walking (69% of those recalling the campaign) and cycling (63%).
In broad terms, all three towns had active promotional programmes, covering a wide range of activities including festivals and events, group cycle rides, and distribution of cycle maps and other cycling and walking information materials. However, both Darlington and Worcester invested particular effort in promotion of cycling to school (with a combination of promotional activities, cycle training, and, in Worcester, cycle loan schemes aimed at teachers and parents). Darlington also put particular effort into installation of new cycle parking, with a large programme of investment in cycle shelters at schools.
Part II Chapter 8. Cycling and walking
information, marketing, training and events
Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010) The Effects of Smarter Choice Programmes in the Sustainable Travel Towns: Research Report
Darlington
Peterborough
Worcester
Activities targeted atworkplaces
Promotion of tax-free cycle purchase
scheme within council (leading to purchase of over 100 bikes); Bike Doctorservices at employers during
Bike Week
Dr Bike maintenance sessions at workplaces during
Bike Week
(2007 and
2008); grants scheme towards cost ofcycle parking and other sustainable
transport measures
Activities targeted atschools
Bike It
promotional activities in schools ( Wheelie Wednesdays
; Bike Breakfasts;
Virtual Bike Challenges; cycle maintenance classes);
Medal Motion
(sustainable travel campaign) twice a year
since May 2006 (3,800 participants inOctober 2008);
Walk on Wednesdays
promotion; walking trains at some
schools
331 entrants in
Bike to School Week
promotion; campaigns to coincide with^ Walk to School Week
; map of travel time
and calories burnt walking / cycling to
one school
Teachers on Bikes
scheme offered loan of
30 bicycles to 60-70 teachers; parent-and-child tandem scheme loans 15 tandems;
20 Dr Bike maintenance sessions held
since September 2007; materials tosupport walking to school; grants for
‘Bikers' Breakfasts’
Note: Where number of participants for events held over several years is given, this is the sum of participants from each event. It has not been possible to assess how many arethe same people each year.
information, marketing, training and events
8.3 Staffing and budgets for cycling and walking promotion
8.3.1 Staffing
Table 8.2 and Figure 8.1 summarise how local authority staff time allocated to cycling and walking promotion changed over the course of the Sustainable Travel Town programme.
Table 8.2: Staff time (fte-posts) allocated to cycling and walking promotion Darlington Peterborough Worcester Before April 2004 1 0 0. May 2008 1.5 0.5 0.
Figure 8.1: Changes in staff time allocated to cycling and walking promotion (fte- posts)
Apr-04Aug-04Dec-04Apr-05Aug-05Dec-05Apr-06Aug-06Dec-06Apr-07Aug-07Dec-07Apr-
full time equivalent posts
Darlington Peterborough Worcester
Notes: The graph gives the impression that Darlington achieved its full complement of staff almost immediately after the start of the Sustainable Travel Town programme. This was not the case, and is a consequence of the way in which Darlington officers reported their staffing levels to the research team, in averages for each year of the programme, rather than with actual start dates for each member of staff.
Peterborough and Worcester both had about 0.5-1 full-time equivalent (fte) posts allocated to cycling and walking promotion throughout the course of the Sustainable Travel Town project, whereas the allocation in Darlington was higher at about 1.5 fte.
In Peterborough, there was briefly 1 fte-post dedicated to walking and cycling, but this fell to 0.5 fte posts one year into the Sustainable Travel Town project. As mentioned earlier, there was a feeling amongst officers that the walking and cycling officers in the Travelchoice team had been drawn into becoming ‘infrastructure experts’ because of the lack of this expertise elsewhere within the council, and that this limited the amount of time available for the ‘smart’ side of the work such as organising events, and had delayed the introduction of various initiatives such as adult cycle training, a walking map, and a possible cycle courier scheme.
In Worcester, the 0.4 fte posts during the first part of the Sustainable Travel Town project had been fairly evenly split between walking and cycling, but from January 2007
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Table 8.5: Non-staff revenue costs Darlington Peterborough Worcester 2004/05 £20,000 £49,000 £ 2005/06 £56,000 £93,000 £40, 2006/07 £90,000 £56,000 £33, 2007/08 £90,000 £77,000 £102, 2008/09 £20,000 £23,000 £98,
Table 8.6: Local authority staff costs Darlington Peterborough Worcester 2004/05 £35,000 £12,000 £12, 2005/06 £36,000 £12,000 £10, 2006/07 £37,000 £12,000 £13, 2007/08 £38,000 £8,000 £23, 2008/09 £39,000 £12,000 £23, Note: Staff costs are estimated on an equivalent basis in all three towns, using rounded average salaries.
Capital investment So far as possible, an attempt was made to gather information on capital investment in cycling and walking infrastructure in the three towns. In practice, it proved difficult to obtain a complete picture of all such investment. This is partly because there is no clear- cut method for identifying infrastructure that encourages walking and cycling. Schemes may have a range of overlapping aims, of which improving conditions for walkers or cyclists is just one; and local authorities do not routinely keep a record of the primary rationale for the many minor infrastructure schemes they implement. This meant that it was difficult for the local authorities to supply us with a comprehensive list of relevant schemes.
In Darlington, subsequent to our interviews with officers, we were able to obtain data on cycling investment from Department for Transport claim forms for the Cycling Demonstration Town programme. The claim forms (‘Annex C forms’) included information on cycling infrastructure investment funded from the Cycling Demonstration Town programme, and some information on infrastructure funded from other sources, in particular the LTP, but did not necessarily provide a complete picture of all such investment. There was also a substantial investment of £6.5 million in pedestrianisation of Darlington town centre during the course of the Sustainable Travel Town programme. This scheme was not primarily intended to increase walking trips, but rather to improve the quality of the experience of shopping in the town centre, and hence the cost is not included in Table 8.3. We were unable to obtain information on any small-scale infrastructure schemes (such as traffic calming or pedestrian crossings) which might have been designed to encourage walking.
In Peterborough, the local authority was able to supply data on capital investment in walking and cycling measures under three of the programme headings in their Smarter Choice Programme (‘Walking and safety’; ‘More cycling’; and ‘Route branding’). However, it is possible that other schemes, funded from other budgets, may also have benefited walking and cycling. ‘Route branding’ investment was treated as benefiting walking and cycling equally.
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Sloman L, Cairns S, Newson C, Anable J, Pridmore A & Goodwin P (2010)
Worcester was able to provide us with a comprehensive list of cycling and walking schemes in the city over the course of the Sustainable Travel Town programme. Some schemes were clearly identified as ‘walking’ schemes and some as ‘cycling’ schemes; however, where it appeared that both modes were likely to have benefited, we allocated the costs 50:50 between ‘walking investment’ and ‘cycling investment’. One of the major projects, at a cost of £1.5 million, was an enhancement programme for Worcester High Street, including new surfacing for the pedestrianised area. As in Darlington, we concluded that the primary aim of this project was related to economic vitality rather than encouraging walking, and hence the cost is not included in Table 8.3.
Non-staff revenue expenditure The picture in relation to revenue expenditure is somewhat more complete. Table 8. gives non-staff revenue costs for each town. The figures here relate to costs incurred by the local authority in activities such as producing walking and cycling information materials; organising events; or providing adult cycle training.
Staff costs Staff costs were not available in a consistent format in the three towns, and there was some variation in salary levels across the towns. Staff costs in Table 8.6 have therefore been estimated, based on the amount of staff time allocated to cycling and walking promotion in ‘full-time person-months’ and taking rounded averages for staff costs for cycling/walking officers of £23,000 in 2004/05, rising by annual increments to £26, in 2008/09.
8.3.3 Costs per head of population
The costs in section 8.3.2 may be used to give an indication of the amount of money spent per head of population on cycling and walking promotion in each of the three towns, and to give an approximate figure for the capital spend on walking and cycling infrastructure. These figures are summarised in Table 8.7 for the five year period from April 2004 to March 2009.
The level of revenue spending per head is fairly similar, at £3-£5, although greatest in Darlington (the Cycling Demonstration Town). Darlington’s capital spend on cycling infrastructure is also considerably greater than that in Peterborough or Worcester, at £ per head of population over the five year period, compared to £3-£6 in the other towns. Capital spend on walking infrastructure is greatest in Worcester, at £5 per head over the five years.
Table 8.7: Local authority costs per resident, 2004/05 – 2008/ Darlington Peterborough Worcester Cycling infrastructure (capital) £14 £3 £ Walking infrastructure (capital) n/a £1 £ Cycling and walking revenue costs £5 £3 £ Note: Urban population from National Statistics mid-year estimate for June 2004: 83,965 for Darlington; 128,234 for Peterborough; 92,678 for Worcester. Figures are for five-year period, and are rounded to nearest pound.
information, marketing, training and events
pleased that the council should be undertaking this kind of activity. Anecdotally, one county employee (in graphic design) told colleagues that he had been encouraged to apply for his post by attending Pedal in the Park.
Other benefits One further benefit of the cycling events, raised by officers in Darlington, was that they provided a mechanism for those involved to work together and generated a ‘feel-good factor’ in the sustainable travel team. In Peterborough, officers considered their work on route branding using solar-powered LED road studs, which had received coverage in the specialist press, had possibly encouraged similar schemes elsewhere.
8.5 Synergies between initiatives to encourage cycling and
walking and other policies and programmes
As outlined above (8.1.1-8.1.4), while Peterborough enjoyed the most extensive cycle network of the three towns, all of them made network improvements in the course of the Sustainable Travel Town period and had more planned. All three towns introduced enhancements to their walking infrastructure. It was clear that supportive infrastructure was seen as integral to successfully encouraging cycling and walking. This synergy was particularly evident in Peterborough, where the walking and cycling officers in the Travelchoice team had assumed a dual role in which they tended to advise on good practice for cycling and walking infrastructure and design as well as being responsible for cycling and walking promotions. They were also actively engaged in ensuring that opportunities to improve cycling and walking conditions were taken up when they arose as part of other traffic management schemes, or in the context of street design for new developments. In Darlington, it was felt that the cycling network required associated policy enforcement, particularly to ensure a harmonious existence between pedestrians and cyclists in the town. The use of the planning system to secure cycle parking was seen as another supportive measure. The town’s Pedestrian Heart streetscape project, which created new public spaces and public art initiatives in the centre of Darlington, was also considered an important initiative in supporting walking (even if this was not its primary aim), though it was not known how much it had contributed to trips to and from the town centre. In Worcester, the team emphasised the importance both of political support (from members and senior managers) and continued development of cycling and walking infrastructure in enabling the expansion of their cycling and walking initiatives.
There was also synergy between promotions for walking and cycling and other smart initiatives. In Darlington, officers said the Local Motion branding had helped to place the walking and cycling work within a broader context of sustainable travel and travel choice. They had also found particular synergies between the cycling and walking programme and work on school travel to the point where colleagues were sharing contacts. It was felt that if children were encouraged to cycle, this would, in turn, encourage adults to join them. All three towns pointed to overlaps between cycling and walking initiatives and their workplace travel programmes. For example, in Peterborough, NHS staff had been encouraged to walk to work through a pedometer challenge. In Worcester, officers said cycling and walking materials had been distributed through schools, workplaces and the personal travel planning programme. In addition, the wider Choose how you move
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programme had helped in generating support for the TV vote on lottery funding, which subsequently secured a new pedestrian and cycling bridge.
8.6 Potential and plans for the future
All three towns had plans to build on their existing work to encourage walking and cycling. Darlington and Worcester particularly emphasised the importance of continued improvements to the cycling network in supporting their promotional activities, whilst Peterborough was interested in developing a route network for walking. Both Peterborough and Worcester emphasised the importance of securing ongoing political support to take their programmes forward.
In Darlington, officers were looking to obtain an extension of their Cycling Demonstration Town funding to fill gaps in the urban network and to begin making links to outlying communities. They perceived a demand for cycle routes into the town from the surrounding rural areas outside it, and wanted to meet this. They were also optimistic that if the Cycling Demonstration Town funding were not forthcoming then there would nevertheless be political support for further cycling infrastructure funded through the LTP, providing there was an ongoing increase in cycling levels to prove the worth of this investment.
The Darlington interviewees were also hoping to continue with their existing activities to promote cycling and walking, including events and rides, cycling and pedestrian training, and sustainable travel challenges, as well as various promotional campaigns. They planned to tailor new information materials around the town’s branded cycle routes. They were interested in collaborating with health agencies to target those groups most likely to benefit from more active travel, and to implement GP referrals for cycling. An initiative to promote cycling to ethnic minority groups was also under consideration. Funding for their cycle training programme had already been secured until 2010 at the time of the interview, through a road safety camera partnership grant. There was an intention to focus on cycling initiatives at workplaces, such as bespoke cycle training. It was felt that £80,000 would be a sufficient budget for cycling and walking initiatives (not including staff) and would be spent 50:50 between the two modes.
In Peterborough, officers wanted to capitalise on their already good cycling network through a combination of infrastructure and marketing measures, making cycling accessible to more people and demonstrating that it was safe and affordable. There was also a desire to continue work on the development of the walking route network and Internet walking journey planner.
Ideas for further promotion included a cycle ‘buddy’ service, which could be offered following cycle training to help novice cyclists find the best routes for different types of journeys. The team also wanted to investigate a Bike It initiative for workplaces (similar to the tailored initiatives provided in other towns for schools), and an active travel marketing campaign, perhaps in partnership with the NHS.
Some changes were planned in terms of staffing. The intention was to have a walking and cycling officer in the sustainable travel team, focussing on smart interventions, and
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