BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
More than half of British adults (55 per cent) support Government investment in cycling.
A Sustrans poll, conducted through YouGov of 2,025 adults across Great Britain also found that over a quarter (27 per cent) would think more positively of an electoral candidate who campaigned for cycling.
The figures suggest most voters will find the major parties squabbling over who will be spending the least on cycling mystifying and potentially off-putting.
Almost a third (31 per cent) of respondents would be more likely to travel by bike if more cycle lanes were separated from traffic on busy roads and over a third (36 per cent) said they don’t cycle more because it is too dangerous.
In an additional YouGov poll of 959 adults from nine English cities over half (54 per cent) of those surveyed supported increased spending on safe cycling routes in their area, even if it meant less would be spent on things that benefit other road users.
Nearly half of people surveyed (46 per cent) in some of the largest English cities also said they would think more positively of an electoral candidate who campaigned for cycling.
Almost half (47 per cent) of those living in the major cities surveyed said they would cycle more if cycle lanes were separated from traffic on busy roads – 44 per cent said they don’t cycle more because “it’s too dangerous”.
Claire Francis, Head of Campaigns at Sustrans commented: “Being able to get about by bike has become a serious issue for the British voter; candidates looking for success in the coming general election would do right to recognise this.
“Despite these new figures, the Infrastructure Bill, which the government hopes to make law by March, is set to deliver the biggest shake up to the roads network in a generation, yet has no strategy for cycling.
“We must change the Infrastructure Bill’s narrow focus on motor traffic and invest in cycling to extend travel choice, to ease congestion, improve our health and our environment.
“The cross-party amendment being proposed for this bill would provide a great opportunity to guarantee long term funding and ensure much safer cycling for everyone, whilst securing support from voters.”
The cross-party amendment to the Infrastructure Bill is supported by a coalition of organisations including British Cycling, Campaign for Better Transport, Campaign to Protect Rural England, CTC: the National Cycling Charity, Living Streets, Sustrans, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Richmond Group (British Heart Foundation, Asthma UK, British Lung Foundation, Age UK, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Diabetes UK, The Neurological Alliance, Macmillan Cancer Support, Stroke Association and Rethink Mental Illness).
The main survey of 2,025 adults was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults, according to the blurb. The nine English cities in the second survey were London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol, Leeds and Sheffield.
