New Government figures show PM's “cycling revolution” going wrong way - says CTC
The Government has today (Monday 24 November) published National Transport Model (NTM) figures projecting that the average number and length of cycle trips will drop over the next 25 years while car use grows. This follows a written Parliamentary question at the request of CTC, the national cycling charity, tabled by Dr Julian Huppert MP, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.
The figures show the average amount of cycle trips is set to decrease from 22.1 per person annually in 2015 to 20.5 in 2040, with the average length decreasing from 2.5 miles to 2.2 miles over the same period. Car driving is set to increase from 447.6 trips to 507, with the average journey length increasing from 9.0 miles to 9.2 miles. The forecasts do not account for the Department’s Cycling Delivery Plan, as this is still in development.
Roger Geffen, Campaigns and Policy Director at CTC said:
“These figures show the glaring mismatch between the Prime Minister’s aspiration for a ‘cycling revolution’ and the DfT’s predictions where the ‘revolution’ has failed to start and is even rolling backwards.
“Public health professionals are flagging up an obesity time bomb. Big business is calling for investment in cycling. Now is the time for Government to provide the funding, leadership and ambition in their 10 year cycle plan that CTC has long been calling for.”
For the full question and Government response see the Parliament.uk website: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2014-11-18/214853/
Notes to editors
CTC, the UK’s largest cycling charity, inspires and helps people to cycle and keep cycling, whatever kind of cycling they do or would like to do. Over a century’s experience tells us that cycling is more than useful transport; it makes you feel good, gives you a sense of freedom and creates a better environment for everyone. www.ctc.org.uk
- In CTC’s response to the Cycling Delivery Plan, they called for at least £10 per head to be invested annually in cycling and an ambition for cycling to increase to at least 10 per cent of all journeys by 2025. For the full response: http://www.ctc.org.uk/news/20141114-ctc-calls-ambition-funding-commitment-cycle-strategy
- CTC commissioned research by Robin Lovelace (University of Leeds) and James Woodcock (Cambridge University) demonstrated the massive benefits of an ambitious plan for cycling growth ((10 per cent of all trips by 2025 growing to 25% by 2050) in health terms alone of being worth £6bn by 2025 and £25bn by 2050. http://robinlovelace.net/publications/health-benefits-cycling-uptake.pdf
- CTC has previously highlighted flaws in the National Transport Model’s predictions labelling them as “planning to fail on cycling” http://www.ctc.org.uk/news/government-planning-to-fail-on-cycling
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