There are votes in cycling.
That was the key message for politicians from Andrew Montague, former Lord Mayor of Dublin speaking at the Cycling Scotland conference in November. He spearheaded the transformation of that city over the past few years, creating a successful bike hire scheme and dedicated space for cycling. As more people take up and enjoy cycling, it is gaining a higher profile.
The General Election campaign will not determine future developments on cycling in Scotland as the majority of powers, with certain exceptions such as road traffic offences, rest with the Scottish Parliament, regional transport partnerships and councils. Nonetheless, it is an opportunity to highlight how and why cycling is gaining in profile and popularity.
The recent 2015 Annual Cycling Monitoring Report, one of the actions under the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland, highlights some significant progress in many areas both nationally and locally. There has been a 32 per cent increase in the volume of cycling since 2003.
Inverness and Edinburgh are vying with each other as to which is the leading cycling commuting city, with tens of thousands of people regularly travelling to work by bike in the two cities. Glasgow Bike Hire is expanding and there are ambitious plans for increasing cycling journeys to stations from Abellio, the new Dutch ScotRail operator.
In schools, many local authorities, from Stirling to Shetland, have achieved huge increases in the number of schools offering Bikeability on-road Cycle Training while East Renfrewshire is the first council to have 100 per cent of schools offering the training, a great achievement and step towards every child in Scotland having the opportunity to learn to ride a bike safely and confidently.
The Sustrans Community Links fund will continue to help invest in infrastructure necessary for improving quality of life from the smallest villages to the largest cities, along canals, trunk roads and for shorter urban trips, right across Scotland.
Investment in cycling by the Scottish Government and the Transport Minister, Derek Mackay, is at a record level but there is still significantly more work to be done by many organisations to transform our streets and communities and achieve the ambitious, shared vision of 10 per cent of journeys by bike by 2020.
The Long Term Vision for Active Travel, published by Scottish Government last year, highlighted the benefits of sustaining long term investment in cycling and walking. These include:
* creating better health and safer travel for all;
* promoting healthy living and preventing diseases caused by physical inactivity; reducing inequalities by widening access to jobs, services and leisure, including for children, older people, people with disabilities and people on low incomes;
* cutting carbon emissions and other pollution, tackling climate change and improving air quality;
* and delivering liveable, more pleasant communities and supporting delivery of sustainable economic growth.
Cycling is truly becoming an everyday activity for more people of all ages and abilities in many places across Scotland. The increases in many communities show that it is possible to make a step change in getting people on bikes anywhere in Scotland. The nation is getting on its bike and this is a transformation being noticed by those who are standing for election in Scotland and beyond.
Keith Irving is chief executive of Cycling Scotland, the national cycle training, promotion, events and engineering organisation, predominantly funded by Transport Scotland. www.cycling.scot
A General Election hustings on transport, organised by law firm Brodies in association with The Herald, will be held at the Corinthian Club, Ingram Street, Glasgow on Tuesday at 5.30pm. Members of the public are welcome. Admission is free. For information go to www.brodies.com
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