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A MORI poll for the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT), shows that a majority of the public backs road tolls, more bus lanes and traffic calming measures in residential areas.
Half of the respondents surveyed were also dissatisfied with road and pavement conditions, almost 50 percent feared a deterioration in road safety over the next ten years and 55 percent said they would travel by car less often if the punctuality and reliability of trains was improved.
Richard Thomas, CTC Campaigns and Policy Manager said: "If the Government acted on just half of these issues, conditions for cycling would improve immeasurably and road congestion would be significantly reduced. The CfIT’s report recognises the benefits of local, small scale transport improvements which help create a environment that encourages
cycling and reduces road delay and highway damage.
"It is these measures that will make a difference to cycling levels and help meet the 2012 target for increasing cycle use. With cycling levels still dropping, the Government must heed the CfIT report and work urgently to prove its environmental credentials."
The National Cycling Strategy target, adopted by the Labour Government when it came to power, is to increase levels of cycling fourfold against a 1996 base by 2012. But recent DTLR statistics show cycling levels to have dropped by four percent.
Thomas said: "The Government must recognise, as the CfIT does, the benefits that cycling brings to wider policy areas such as social exclusion, urban regeneration and the creation of towns and cities that are comfortable places in which to live. Ministers must also accept, as the Commission’s report also does, that cycling ‘should contribute to a
reduction in the incidence of obesity and of coronary heart disease’ amongst numerous other improvements to the nation’s health."
