CHOOSING to make all or part of a journey on foot or bike (or any other means that involves being active) as opposed to sitting in a motor vehicle is, errr, how should I put this, good. Great. Amazing, brilliant, fantastic. Poggers.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I’d be surprised if any local politician is against the notion of increasing rates of active travel. Common ground across political parties. Wonderful.

So what’s so great about active travel? Firstly, it’s really good for us, and inactivity is really bad for us; UK health officials estimate inactive living is responsible for 100,000 deaths a year (about the population of Worcester).

Being active also benefits our mental health.

In addition there’s the pressing need for humanity to reduce our carbon emissions to combat the threat of global heating; walking or cycling are amazingly efficient modes of transport.

Add to this reduction in other air pollutants and noise, and when you need to drive, active travel reduces congestion. So, can we agree that it would be a good idea to increase active travel rates?

(Feel free to add any downsides in the comments section, but I’m struggling to think of any)

Unfortunately local active travel rates are about average for the UK, and the statistics are complicated enough to be misused by certain politicians to try and justify the inadequacy of investment in cycling infrastructure. There was about a 50 per cent uplift in walking and cycling in Worcester in 2020 as a result of lockdowns, but methods of determining rates are also complicated, and easy to suggest they are not representative, if that suits your political argument.

So how do we increase active travel rates, notably cycling? I like to use two words: enable and encourage.

Let’s start with enable. This is infrastructure, installation of bike lanes, removal of barriers, anything that provides the perception and reality that change is being made to improve the environment for those travelling on two wheels, to improve safety and comfort, and create a continuous, intuitive network.

As a minimum the city should have a plan to create a network linking all residential areas to schools, centres of employment, recreational facilities, train and bus stations, and most importantly the city centre.

By encourage, I mean that the need for us to choose active travel is communicated to us by the local authority, along with the benefits.

In addition, at every opportunity active travel should be encouraged and incentivised.

So going into the local elections I hope candidates read this, take note, and if elected set about changing the city and county to enable this positive change.

If we’re in agreement we’d like an increase in active travel, the only discussion is around ‘How’.

Bike Worcester and the Worcestershire Active Travel Partnership are available at their convenience to start the conversation.