- There's an 83% rise in people cycling to work from 2001-2011
- Could success of cycling in the Olympics be a reason?
- Transport for Greater Manchester keen to get people cycling
- Dipak Patel of PopUp Bikes believes attitudes need to change if their are to be more people cycling.
The Office for National Statistics
(ONS) have released figures that tell us that 4,610 people aged 16-74 were
cycling to work in 2001 compared to 8,426 people in 2011 – an 83% rise.
Statistics have also shown
that the bicycle share of transport in Manchester has gone up from 3.2% to 4.1%
between 2001-2011. However, cyclists are still a very small amount of people in
the community when compared to the 51.9% of people using cars as their mode of
transport.
The success of the recent Olympics could be the cause for
more people using bikes. Statistics provided by The
National Cycling Charity are also showing that sales in bikes have
drastically risen nationally, from 2300 in the year 2000, to 3580 in the year
2011. Lisa Daley who trains rising track stars at Manchester Velodrome believes
the success of the Olympics has made cycling ‘cool’.
With the achievements of road cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins, who won a gold medal for time trial in the 2012 Olympics and also won the Tour De France retrospectively, cycling has been given a new face. Likewise, track cyclists Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton have been flying the flag for successful British cyclists. Could this be the reason for an influx in bicycle sales over the past 10 years? Lisa Daley believes it has, “The Olympics have helped definitely, I think it’s made people more aware of cycling on the streets and it’s safe to do so. People are more aware of cycle paths as well and there is a lot of advertisement around people cycling to work now.”
With advertisement growing, transport
chiefs are keen to get more and more people cycling to work, and are
introducing more cycle spaces into the city centre. The £45m plan produced by Transport for Greater Manchester saw hundreds of
spaces being built, some with secure compounds where you can shower, and lock
away your gear.
Dipak Patel owns PopUp Bikes
in Manchester – an independent hybrid café, bike repair shop and indoor cycle
parking. Dipak set up PopUp Bikes in 2012 when he realised there was nowhere in
Manchester to park up his bike and believed there was a gap in the market for
such a place.
But with cycling on the increase, should there be a call for a more ‘Dutch style’ Manchester? British Cycling has recently introduced a Time To Choose Cycling scheme in which they have targeted 10% of all journeys will be made by bicycle in 2050. Quite a change from the current 4.1% in Manchester, Dipak believes it could be possible: “it might take us a little bit longer than the rest of Europeans, there are a lot of barriers, which I hope we can overcome. I think the big change that needs to be made over here is a cultural one; people need to stop with this ‘us and them’ culture in terms of cyclists and motorists, that’s the only way we can make cycling safe. It’s like the same as the cultural changes we have made with seatbelts or smoking – people just need to accept and grow.”
Aaron Gales from British Cycling said travelling by bike can
save you money, help get you fit and beat the traffic in Greater Manchester but
having more cyclists on the road highlights a need for change.
Gales said: “Unfortunately our roads were built for cars and
not bikes. Countries like the Netherlands and Denmark used to be the same but
made the decision to prioritise cycling and there is absolutely no reason why
we cannot do the same.
“Cities like Manchester and others across the UK are
starting to make real commitment to improving conditions for cyclists with
strong political leadership and sustained levels of investment.”
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