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New research commissioned by the MTP shows that, on the back of BikeAbility training, more than a third of trainees began to use bikes for utility – travelling to work, school or just down to the shops.
More than 30,000 young people and adults in Merseyside have been trained by Merseyside Transport Partnership (MTP)’s TravelWise cycle training scheme – the largest in the country – since April 2006.
Overall the research showed a consistent and marked increase in both utility and leisure cycling. After training, 37 per cent of trainees began to cycle for transportation reasons and more than 90 per cent of them are cycling for leisure at least once a week.
What’s more, more than 97 per cent of parents and guardians saw an improvement in their child’s cycling safety – with 75 per cent noting “a lot” of improvement – and reported a 56 per cent increase in other family members cycling.
MTP chairman Neil Scales said the results were “hugely significant."
He went on: “For the first time anywhere in the country we have solid evidence that training programmes like ours have a clear, long term positive effect on behaviour and attitudes, not just of individuals who attend training but on their families."
