Glasgow’s Anderston bridge, previously known as the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, has won a Sustrans award for ‘Best community impact’ – one of four of the charity’s infrastructure awards being given to projects across the UK today. The awards aimed to highlight the very best projects that have taken place on the National Cycle Network since it was first developed by the charity 20 years ago.

Going somewhere 

The Anderston bridge was judged to have had an important role in linking up walking and cycling routes in the city. The bridge was previously nicknamed the “Bridge to Nowhere” as plans to link Anderston and the city centre were never completed, leaving it suspended over a hotel car park. Working with the local community, the bridge was completed with funding from the Big Lottery Fund, with contributions from Transport Scotland, via Sustrans, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and Glasgow City Council. 

Connecting communities

Mrs Isobel Campbell, Chair of Anderston Community Council, accepted the award on behalf of the local community. She said:

“We’re delighted to accept the award on behalf of the community. The Community Council and local people called for the bridge to be completed for a long time. Since it was brought down to the other side of the M8 a few years ago it’s had a big impact on the lives of people in Anderston and city centre neighbourhoods.

“The bridge has proved to be really popular. It’s used by folk from all walks of life and of all ages, but it’s made a particularly big difference to people with limited mobility. It’s given them the independence to make trips into the city centre directly and safely.” 

John Lauder, Director of Sustrans Scotland, said:

“We’re thrilled that Anderston bridge is being recognised for the impact it has made on local communities. The completion of the bridge has opened up a safe and attractive route for people travelling on foot, bike, wheelchairs and mobility scooters across one of Scotland’s busiest roads. 

“I want to pay tribute to the fantastic efforts of all those involved – especially the local community for the hard work that saw the bridge completed.”

Read the story of the bridge.

We have completed a feasibility study that could lead to a crucial new walking and cycling bridge and help to transform East London by providing a vital transport link across the Thames between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf.  

"Let’s not wait any longer to unlock the potential in East London.”

Read more news stories from London.

Read more about our vision for cycling in London.

Claire McLernon is our first full-time Active Travel Officer for Workplaces in Northern Ireland. She gives us an insight into the first year of this new programme 'Leading the Way with Active Travel' where she is tasked with getting a range of workplaces to travel actively.

My morning so far has been spent hosting an information stall at the staff canteen of one of my public sector workplaces. For now, there is a lull in the flow of employees queuing for their morning coffee and I’m allowing my voice to rest after all the chat at the stall before the lunch rush. I have my portable free gifts Christmas tree, and am in high demand!

Jackie, the legendary car park security guy, is sipping on his tea in the corner, probably wondering how to outwit this ‘girl with the bike’. The lull is giving me time to reflect on the year that has passed since I started this job - a year that began with the daunting task of conveying a message to these hundreds of employees with their busy jobs and hectic lives.

As a Sustrans newbie against a backdrop of a region who I didn’t think fully embraced the bicycle as a normal mode of transport, I felt like I was pedalling the wrong way up a one way street.

A year of behaviour change

Last December, a comprehensive baseline travel survey at the beginning of my project revealed that 10% of employees where I’m holding this morning’s stall travel actively to work as their main mode of travel (cycling 4%; walking 6%). After a full year of information stalls, led walks and cycles, Dr Bike sessions, turbo challenges, health fairs, Champion training, countless mail-outs, e-mails, and newsletters, I am hoping the follow-up survey will show I’ve made an impact.

All I can reveal so far is my gut feeling that attitudes towards active travel are quickly changing for the better, in no small part due to the superb leadership and vision from the people at the very top of this particular workplace.

Belfast Bikes

Furthermore, the timely introduction of the City Council’s Belfast Bikes that coincided with the start of this project has been somewhat of a godsend, critically making cycling accessible for those workers in the city who cannot travel the whole way to work by bicycle due to commuting distances.

To assume the project would not be a success without this access to bicycles would be pessimistic (it’s not just about bikes, after all). In truth, this incidental marriage of workplace policy and leadership and City Council initiative has created the perfect conditions for far greater acceptance of cycling as a normal and sought-after mode of transport for everyday use. 

Next steps?

I’m a very active person but I’m comfortable admitting that like the vast majority of the population, active travel is still not my default, but it has now become my choice. I still have one more rung up the ladder of behavioural change to go, where I’m a fully-fledged active traveller who doesn’t drive the one mile up the hill to the shop to get a litre of milk. I want to take those within my workplaces on that journey with me, because if there’s one thing that’s evident from my year’s experience, it’s that there are very few people who sit at a desk all day and wish they were more idle.

Surveys and data and reports are important on a population scale, but as an individual, all I need to keep me motivated in my job is to hear is the sweet sound of a bell on the next shiny, new bicycle entering the overflowing staff bicycle park.

Just a month ago, Jackie* the car park guy, offered himself up as keeper of a suite of bicycle tools in his hut. Although I know he still find cyclists annoying, I see his adopted role of jaunty authoritarian of the two-wheeled workers on his patch as a big jump in my own measure of progress. Jackie has taken one critical step up the rungs of the ladder of behavioural change and is, without realising it, taking so many others with him in the right direction.

With much more work still to be done, I can be grateful that Sustrans have the support of the project’s funder, the Public Health Agency, who realise that true behaviour change can take time but when given the right conditions, will happen.

*Jackie is now available for a While-U-Work check and pump of your bicycle tyres. He said so himself today after I told him he was getting a mention in my workplace blog…

Leading the Way with Active Travel is a 3-year programme that started in 2014.

It was commissioned by the Public Health Agency (PHA) to encourage and support staff in PHA, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast City Council, Health and Social Care Board, and Business Services Organisation to travel actively as part of their working day.

Find out more about how we can promote active travel in your workplace or download the Northern Ireland workplaces newsletter (pdf 1.15mb).

Staff at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust have been given a Christmas gift of on-road cycle training to help them get on their bikes in the New Year.

Belfast Bike Share Scheme expanding

Register for free cycle training 

Find out more about what we do in Northern Ireland

Read blog on the Leading the Way programme

The Cycle Friendly Employer award scheme recognises and supports Scottish employers who are committed to enabling higher levels of cycling.

The award is an initiative of Cycling Scotland, and is designed not only to reward those organisations that are already working hard on promoting cycling in the workplace, but also to offer guidance to organisations which would like to do more but aren’t sure where to start.

How it works

After registering on Cycling Scotland’s website, prospective partners are asked to carry out an online self-assessment. Following this, a Cycling Scotland officer will offer feedback and arrange an assessment visit, and will make suggestions regarding any further improvements that could be made. Throughout the process, support is offered by the Scotland-wide network of Cycle Friendly Employer Service Centres, and grants of up to £1,000 may be available from Cycling Scotland to help organisations overcome barriers to achieving CFE status.

Why gain accreditation?

Gaining accreditation as a Cycle Friendly Employer demonstrates to employees, customers and business partners that you have taken practical steps to help improve the health of your employees and to reduce your organisation’s impact on the local environment. Organisations that achieve the award also gain access to further support from Cycling Scotland, including subsidised training, toolkits, and personal travel surgeries.

The Cycle Friendly Employer award successfully complements other schemes to promote active travel in the workplace. Sustrans Scotland’s Active Travel Champions project has engaged with several organisations which have either previously or subsequently achieved Cycle Friendly status, and the award offers an opportunity to build on one-off events such as Cycle to Work Day and Bike Week.

There are also several sister schemes to Cycle Friendly Employer, including Cycle Friendly School, Secondary School, Campus, and Community programmes.

Find out more about other workplace interventions that could support active travel in Scotland. If you wish to register with the Cycle Friendly Employer award scheme, contact Cycling Scotland.

For regular updates on this and other workplace active travel initiatives, join the Sustrans Workplace Network.

Campaigns can be an extremely successful way of getting people interested and raising awareness, but before you start, make sure you’ve planned well to give yourself the best chance of success.

Define your issue

Whether it’s a full car park, corporate social responsibility, an unhealthy workforce or poor provision for cyclists, make sure you know exactly what the issue is before you try and fix it.

Set your goal

Your goal should be SMART – Specific, Measureable, Ambitious, Realistic, Time-bound. What do you want to achieve? Do you want 20 bike parking spaces by the end of the summer? Do you want management to start rewarding people who cycle to work? Do you want to set up a lunchtime walking group?

Become an expert

The chances are someone else has come across the problem you are facing, so read up on how other people have tried to fix the problem, or contact the Sustrans Scotland Workplace team who will be able to offer assistance.

Create a resource pool

Resources will make your life easier, it’s hard to do everything on your own. You might need help from people who feel the same way about your issue, or you might need to call on Sustrans to assist, maybe  you can print out some of our ready-made resources such as ‘How to get buy in from Senior Management’, or ‘How to set up a bike pool scheme’.

Know your opponents

You are always likely to come up against opposition, but if you are prepared for it then it will be much easier. Drivers won’t want car spaces removed for bike racks, facilities teams might be reluctant to put in a new shower or lockers and HR might not want to start providing bike mileage – but if you’ve got the proof that it’s needed then you’re on the right track.

Get your message across

Think creative! There are countless ways to get your message across. Everything from writing a letter to management, to putting an article in your staff newsletter, or posters at reception and handing out freebies. Bigger events can gather more interest, such as bringing in Dr Bike for an afternoon or organising a lunchtime walk.

Who needs to be involved?

It depends on what you want to achieve, but it could be HR, a Sustainability manager, senior management team, Health and Wellbeing representative or Environment manager. They might be working on fixing your issue already, so get in touch with them.

How do you get people involved?

Make it relevant to them. Most people want to save money or get healthier – those are the two best angles to take.

If you want further guidance or support please contact our workplaces team.

There's a wide range of training opportunities available in Scotland to help increase active and sustainable travel in your workplace.

Active Travel Champion Training

Our Workplace Active Travel Champions programme supports a network of volunteers who help people in their workplace to be more active through walking or cycling as part of their everyday journeys. Champions are supported with training on running events and giving travel advice, resources, and guidance from a full-time Active Travel Champions Project Officer based in our Edinburgh office.

Mapping with OpenStreetMaps

Lack of knowledge of local routes can be a significant obstacle to those who might otherwise consider walking or cycling to work. As part of the Active Travel Champions project, we offer periodic training courses in OpenStreetMaps – an easy-to-use, open-source digital map, which you can use to create customised maps of the approaches to your workplace.

Promoting walking in the workplace

Paths for All offers a range of training options for those who wish to promote walking in their workplace. This includes a day long course for staff involved in improving the health and wellbeing of their workforce. They also offer training for those interested in leading walks in and around the workplace, which can help to build activity into the working day.

Promoting cycling amongst colleagues

We also coordinate cycle training sessions through our Active Travel Champions project, but it is possible to book courses directly from Cycling Scotland. Two key courses that may be of interested are detailed below.

• Essential Cycling Skills

Often, people would like to cycle more, but lack confidence or experience, or have been out of the saddle for a number of years. If some of your colleagues fall into this category, then it might be worth looking into the Essential Cycling Skills courses offered by Cycling Scotland. The training cover subjects such as bike handling skills, confidence on-road, and roadside repair.

• Cycle Ride Leader

As with led walks, running a led cycle can be a great way to build activity into the working day. It also offers the opportunity for less experienced cyclists to gain confidence cycling on the road, and build up their knowledge of local routes. Cycle Ride Leader training, also provided by Cycling Scotland, provides the skills required to lead safe, risk-assessed rides for groups of cyclists.

Energy Efficient Driving

For some people, a degree of reliance on cars – either for commuting or during the working day – is unavoidable. However, training on energy efficient driving offered by the Energy Saving Trust could help you to reduce your organisation’s impacts and fuel costs.

For more information on any of these training courses, please follow the links, or get in touch with our workplaces coordinator.

We all like to be efficient - we all want to get there just that bit more quickly. and spend a few more minutes doing something useful or pleasant. 

But how valuable are these bits of time? If we can create extra time, how do we actually use it? And is it right to assign a price to it as the Department of Transport has tried to do?

Time spent travelling is valued in WebTAG, the Department for Transport’s standard on transport analysis guidance. 

Time is assigned a value, and any interventions can be valued according to the extent to which they impact on this time.

This carries with it numerous problems, and principle among them is how we value time. Under the old WebTAG model, time values were mode based. There was no account taken of whether a minute saved on a five minute trip was more or less valuable than a minute saved on a two hour trip, for example. The consequence was that many road schemes ended up being justified on the basis of the high values of accumulated benefits of saving small amounts of time.

The DfT has recently commissioned research into the value of time.

While the consultation doesn't end until 29 January, the research has reportedly updated the evidence base, provided better coverage for different modes, and applied new methods to estimate values of time for business travel, which avoid the need to rely on theoretical assumptions about how people use their travel time.

The consequences of this work are particularly interesting for travel for business (travelling in the course of work) and for commuting (travelling to and from a regular place of work):

• In terms of travel for business, time values for short distance business travel decrease for all modes. However, time values for long distance business rail travel increase substantially.
   
• In terms of commuting, time values for commuting increase by nearly 50% compared with the values used previously.

This will get around the problems of accumulated small time savings for all users, but will mean that there is a concentration of build-up of benefit in schemes that are expected to move commuters around more quickly, and schemes that support longer distance business travel. This serves to embed the case for both road building (near employment areas) and rail links.

But all of this overlooks the reality of how we use time. If we get to work a minute or two earlier, we don’t necessarily spend this time hard at work, and we are not therefore more productive. We don’t necessarily spend longer and spend more in the shop if we are able to get there a little more quickly.

Very often if journey times are improved, we opt to live further away.

The research doesn’t reflect the complexities of our perceptions of the value of time, and our use of time.

We have responded to the DfT’s consultation on the new research into the values of time. Our view is that anything that reduces the disproportionate impact of small time savings in appraisals of investment in new roads is helpful. However, to some extent the solutions may just replace one analytical problem with another.

The values generated are taken from willingness to pay studies, and as such they are ‘nominal’ economic impacts in the WebTAG framework. That is to say, they are expressions of the hypothetical rather than expressions of real, or ‘cashable’ economic benefits.

There is no ‘jingling of coins into the cash register’ associated with these values.

If nominal economic impacts are appropriate in respect of time, why are other nominal and hard-to-calculate values overlooked, such as wellbeing and benefits to children?

We think that transport appraisals do not answer the questions that decision makers should be asking, nor do they reflect what is actually important to people. Transport appraisal needs to reflect wider quality of life and well-being issues including health, the balance between leisure activities and work, social connections and relationships, and the environment.

By focusing on intangible and nominal economic benefits, primarily small time savings to individuals, the WebTAG framework ignores a whole raft of factors, economic and otherwise, that should be of primary importance when allocating increasingly limited resources.

Read our response to the consultation.

Stay up to date by signing up for the Policy Scan, a fortnightly summary of key policy thinking, reports, announcements and consultations.

There's a gap in London and we don't want you to mind it. We want to help you bridge it. We need you to sign up to support the Sustrans Bike Bridge.

We need you to help us bridge the gap.

Over 13,000 commutes by bike or foot.

As the campaign develops we will need your help. Sign up below for updates.

Smarter Travel Live! is a showcase of practical applications of intelligent mobility and smarter choices for sustainable towns and cities across the UK.

We're an official supporter of the two day event which includes a conference, workshops, speed learning sessions, a hackathon, exhibitions and the Smarter Travel Awards.

Our experts will be sharing some of our latest projects and research both on the agenda and from our stand in the exhibition hall. So if you want to hear more about Britain’s biggest ever Bike Life survey, hear about our community mapping services, or want to experience our innovative street kit that transforms streets into places where people can stop and relax, please do drop by.

Bike Life

The biggest national survey of attitudes towards cycling

Rosslyn Colderley, Regional Director, North West and Dene Stevens, Bike Life Project Manager

Rosslyn and Dene will be sharing the results of our recent Bike Life survey, the biggest survey ever conducted on attitudes to cycling in the UK across seven cities in the UK.

The survey found overwhelming support for cycling and this talk will explain what and why from both a national and local perspective in Manchester.

17 March 2pm, 2nd Floor Balcony 1

 

Crowdsourced cycling

How data from the everyday public can help you make places fit for people

Martyn Brunt, Head of Mapping & Retail Services

Martyn will be sharing our community mapping programme, which asks the public (not just cyclists) to add their personal experiences, issues and ideas to improve networks and routes. This is brilliant for engaging the community and also a very handy way to get the best answers.

Martyn will also be talking about the National Cycle Network audit we're undertaking, focusing on building information from users across the country to improve the network.

18 March 3pm, 1st Floor Balcony 1

 

Community Street Design

Generating a dialogue

Mark Jenks, Senior Urban Designer

For over a decade we have been working with communities to help them reclaim and re-imagine their streets. Our approach enables local people to gain the confidence, skills and control needed to physically alter their neighbourhoods and change behaviours.

Hear all about it in this talk with Mark.

18 March 3pm, 1st Floor Balcony 2

• Come and talk to us on stand B1, opposite the main conference arena, on the 17 and 18 March.

• Follow us on Twitter for updates and insights into the changing world of travel.

• If you can't attend use #smartertravellive to keep up with the conference.

Sut wnaethoch chi deithio i’r gwaith yr hydref diwethaf? Oeddech chi’n un o’r 600 o bobl o brifysgolion o amgylch Cymru a gytunodd i hepgor y car fel rhan o’n prosiect Byw’n Dda, Gweithio’n Dda?

Trodd bump o brifysgolion at deithio cynaliadwy mewn ymdrech i ddod i frig y tabl ar gyfer y gyfradd gyfranogi uchaf yn ein her teithio prifysgol, gyda Phrifysgol Bangor yn fuddugol. Enillodd y brifysgol sesiwn gynnal a chadw Dr Bike a phecyn llawn o nwyddau teithio egnïol.

Manteisiodd llawer o bobl ar y cyfle hwn i feddwl am gerdded, beicio, defnyddio trafnidiaeth gyhoeddus neu rannu car i gyrraedd y brifysgol, gan gael llawer o fanteision iechyd ac ariannol ar hyd y daith.

Teithiwyd rhagor na 60,000 o filltiroedd drwy’r 9000 taith a gofnodwyd – sy’n gyfwerth â 2.5 gwaith o amgylch y byd!

Roedd hefyd ystod eang o wobrau i’w hennill dros gyfnod yr her, a dim ond drwy gofnodi o leiaf dwy daith yr wythnos roedd cyfle i gyfranogwyr ennill talebau siopa. Rhoddwyd cyfanswm o 20 set o dalebau fel hapwobrau.

Roedd y tywydd yn anwadal ond ni wnaeth hynny bylu brwdfrydedd y cyfranogwyr:

“Bore gwlyb heddiw, ond dim byd na all cot dda ac ymbarél ymdopi ag ef:) Oherwydd fy natur blentynnaidd neidiais mewn ambell bwll ar y ffordd.”

Dyma oedd gan gyfranogwr o’r tîm Gwasanaethau Cefnogi Myfyrwyr ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe i’w ddweud am yr her:

“Nid oes amheuaeth y daeth yr Her Teithio â ni yn nes fel tîm - o’r tynnu coes cystadleuol llawn hwyl ynglŷn â thaith pwy oedd yr hwyaf neu’r caletaf neu wlypaf neu fwyaf cynaliadwy, i’r cynghorion da a rannwyd gan feicwyr profiadol. Roedd yr Her Teithio yn addysgiadol, a nododd bob un ohonom anghenion hyfforddiant ac arfer da i’w cynnal yn y dyfodol. Byddem wrth ein bodd yn gwneud yr her eto.”

Gallwch gael gwybod mwy am y prosiect hwn neu gael unrhyw wybodaeth arall drwy gysylltu â Charlotte Moore.

Darganfyddwch ragor am sut y mae Sustrans yn gweithio mewn prifysgolion a cholegau.

Gall Sustrans hefyd eich helpu i ymgysylltu eich gweithwyr.

Cycling has been growing in popularity in recent years but men still outnumber women four to one in the UK for cycling to work.

However, more women cycle in Belfast than in many other UK cities including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle, as surveyed by Sustrans for the Bike Life report. In fact, in Belfast the gender difference in cycling has narrowed dramatically with male cyclists outnumbering females just two to one.

Listen to BBC Radio Ulster interview [Listen at 02:15:47]

Read more on Belfast Bike Life report.

Find out more about the Leading The Way programme for workplaces.

Transport, how we move around London, is one of the greatest challenges facing our growing city.

There is a gap between the transport infrastructure we have and the transport infrastructure we need. We’ve got to find fresh ideas to bridge that gap. An integral part of that is a new bike bridge over the river Thames between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf.

There is one mode of travel that is undergoing a renaissance in London, one mode that is our best bet to handle London’s growth and unlock the new homes our city needs – the bicycle.

Occupying a fifth of the space of a car, providing door-to-door journeys with major health benefits, we know cycling has a central role in keeping London moving and connecting our growing capital.

I haven’t seen a viable alternative that can be delivered in the timescales required, at the scale required within the resources available.

That means we need infrastructure to support both cycling and walking as London grows. A third of London’s growth to 2030 is set to happen in the east, beyond Tower Bridge. This includes a doubling in the number of jobs on the Isle of Dogs and over 4,000 new homes around Canada Water station.

All of these new homes, jobs and services will need better connectivity. To make this trip today is a choice between a fume filled tunnel, a packed tube train or a pricey ferry.

There is a gap here between the commute these Londoners need and the commute they are forced to make.

This is where London needs a bridge.

We originally identified this location as in need of a crossing when London was chosen to host the Olympics. With support from your donations and our volunteers we began planning a cycling network to connect the Olympic Park to the rest of London. This was a time when cycling wasn’t considered mass transit or worthy of serious investment.

Nearly a decade later cycling is mass transit. 645,000 trips per day are cycled; people on bikes make up the equivalent of 20 percent of tube trips. For the first time there are now more people cycling to work at Canary Wharf than driving. It shows what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time.

This Thames bike bridge will transform connectivity and boost cycling levels across London. We predict that over 13,000 clean journeys, by bike and on foot, would be made every day across this innovative new bridge.

The same number of people would fill 15 tube trains.

It will help London breathe and get Londoners active.

We worked closely with TfL and other partners on the feasibility study to ignite this project and get it to where it is today. Our vision is that it will be driven by private money for public benefit.

Our study has shown significant interest among London’s businesses, this is the bridge that they want to see happen.

In a few years we hope there will be a new choice when crossing the river, a short walk or cycle over a beautifully designed bridge - the quick, clean and healthy alternative.

Now we need London’s new Mayor need to get behind it, and we’ll need your support to get them to.

Help us get London’s bike bridge built. Help us bridge the gap.

Find out more about our proposal for a bike bridge between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf.

Register your support.

If you want to change your workplace’s approach to cycling, walking and public transport but don’t know where to start then we can help.

We’ve got lots of great ideas and actions that you can use to change your workplace. Some of them are really quick and easy. You can get started on them today.

For others you may need a little more help, that's where our free resources and our friendly team come in. Get in touch to find out more.

Find out how staff travel with a staff travel survey

Carry out a survey to get a clear understanding of people’s travel choices. What are the barriers that currently prevent people from walking, cycling, using public transport or car-sharing?

Survey your workplace with a site survey

Build up a picture of how easy your workplace makes it for those who want to walk, cycle or use public transport, and identify areas for improvement.

Review your policies

Do your organisation’s policies support walking, cycling and public transport use? Clear company guidelines offering support for staff are crucial in changing organisational culture.

Map the route to work

Highlight local route options, from cycle paths to bus stops, and share this information with staff and visitors. Use online mapping, find out whether our shop has got a map of your area or get in touch with us to produce one for you.

Provide information

Gather and distribute local walking, cycling and public transport information. You could also send staff and colleagues links to our pages on getting started as a cycle commuter and the benefits of active travel.

Encourage car sharing and bike buddying for new cyclists.

Find out more about car-sharing or investigate car club membership options in your area. You can also help staff to set up bike buddy programs where an experienced cycle commuter shows a new cyclist the best way to get to work.

Cycle training and bike maintenance at work

Encourage people to try something new by organising cycle training, bike maintenance sessions and group rides. For more ideas on activities to engage staff please get in touch with our workplaces team.

Consider financial and practical support

Register for the Cycle to Work scheme to help your staff spread the cost of a new bike over 12 tax-free instalments. You may want to consider offering monthly loans for public transport season tickets.

You could purchase a small fleet of pool bikes and stock the office with spare locks and puncture repair kits for cylists. Walkers would appreciate a supply of umbrellas for rainy days.

Create opportunities to be part of a wider movement.

Being part of a group makes it easier for individuals to change their own habits, so join up with national events like National Walking Month, Bike Week, Cycle to Work Day and Lift Share Week, or create your own organisation-wide challenge. We've got a special team of staff who create bespoke challenges for workplaces. For more information get in touch.

Staff travel champions

Encourage champions. Staff who are keen walkers and cyclists are a real asset to your organisation. Invest in these people and encourage them to spread the word to colleagues. Have a look at our workplace travel champions training package to find out more.

Change can take some time to embed in an organisation but there are definitely quick wins to be had. Repeat your activities over time to create a lasting change in your organisation.

Need more advice? Or a tailor made plan for your organisation?

Get in touch with our friendly workplaces team to discuss your needs.

We estimate that there is a net benefit of 67p to society for every mile cycled rather than driven. Putting a figure on the value of cycling in this way could offer a lot in terms of helping politicians, practitioners and the public to understand the relative cost of their modal choices.

We recently published a family of Bike Life reports with the city authorities in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Greater Manchester and Newcastle.

These reports included a value of societal gain for every mile that is cycled instead of driven. In this blog I will take you through my calculations and how we arrived at this figure.

The societal gain model is an innovative model developed by Sustrans as part of the Bike Life project. It builds on work originally developed for the Copenhagen Bicycle Account.

A preliminary set of unit values was generated that estimate the benefits and costs of cycling, and the benefits and costs of driving. The two outputs are common across the seven Bike Life partner cities; that is to say we haven't been able to refine the approach sufficiently at this stage to generate different values for the different cities.

The unit costs consist of two parts:

1. the benefit or cost to the individual user, and
2. the impact on society.

In economic terms these are referred to as internalised and externalised costs. Internalised costs include time cost, vehicle operating costs, and personal health impacts.

Externalised costs include expenses in connection with congestion, noise, air quality and emissions, wider public health and accidents.

Some variables can have both internalised and externalised costs. This is broadly the approach used by the UK Government in estimating the value schemes (e.g. in the context of generating benefit to cost ratios for scheme appraisal). However, our approach is very definitely not in line with how the appraisal tool, WebTAG, is intended to be used.

Nevertheless, we can come up with some figures...

The value of cycling formula

There is a cost to society for every mile cycled of 28p, whereas the cost per mile driven is 95p, more than three times as much. There is a difference of 67p between the cost per mile cycled and the cost per mile driven. We call this difference, the 67p, the value to society of cycling a mile above driving a mile. Estimating a proportion of miles cycled rather than driven, enables us to calculate the economic gain of cycling to society.

The formula for the saving to individuals and to the local economy for every mile biked instead of driven (or the value of cycling to society), in its simplest form, is therefore:

([Cost per mile driven] – [Cost per mile cycled]) * [Number of miles cycled rather than driven] = [Value to society of miles cycled rather than driven]

The number of miles cycled rather than driven comes from a very simple estimate of the number of miles cycled multiplied by percentage of car ownership. This doesn't include miles cycled for leisure.

Cycling net benefit by city

Using the above formula, we made calculations for the seven Bike Life cities:

The values are a function of levels of cycling, population size, and car ownership levels. Figures for investment in cycling fall way short of the values of societal benefit, particularly when taken over several years of course.

The cost of cycling

Do you want to encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport at your organisation? Would you like to cut car commutes and re-think business travel? Try some of these ideas for starting a culture change at your workplace.

1. Book a local bike mechanic to come in to check staff bikes and teach them some maintenance basics.
2. Give travel directions to your office in the healthiest order, to encourage new staff and visitors to travel more actively. Start with walking and cycling, then public transport then car travel. Make sure you include car-share options.
3. Ask your local authority whether it offers grants for cycle parking. If it does, replace some car parking spaces with cycle parking spaces – you can fit 10 bikes in one car parking space.
4. Let staff know about the benefits of active travel with posters in the workplace, articles in your organisation’s newsletter/e-news and messages on payslips.
5. Make it clear in the company expenses policy that the organisation supports walking, cycling and public transport use. If an organisation doesn’t promote alternatives and just lists car mileage allowance in the expenses policy then staff will tend to drive without considering the alternatives.
6. Keep communal supplies of emergency extras like bike lights and waterproofs at reception.

For more information, inspiration and ideas get in touch with our friendly workplaces team.

Make the most of your daily commute by using the time to train your mind to be present. If you do you'll arrive at work feeling relaxed, refreshed and ready to take on the day ahead.

Mindfulness has recently received much attention in the press and rightly so. It’s now prescribed by GPs as a tool to manage depression, anxiety and stress, top athletes use it to maximise their performance and even children are learning the basic principles in school. 

Below are some books and apps that we've found helpful when practising mindfulness. Some are available free while others have a small cost.

There are lots of options out there so you can find one that suits you:

1. The Headspace App - grab your headphones and take 10 minutes to escape from the hustle and bustle with a gentle guided meditation to calm your mind and help you to approach the day with a sense of calm and clarity. Looking for more? For a fee you can subscribe to the app and download a range of meditations, longer times and less guidance.

2. Calm.com– this great website and free app allow you to set a meditation timer from as little as one minute. Monitor your progress and switch between meditations to figure out which works best for you.

3. One-moment meditation– this app allows you to learn to meditate quickly and powerfully, a perfect stress-buster for the busiest among us.

4. Try a mindfulness colouring book – if meditation isn’t for you why not try colouring? It works in a similar way to meditating by making you concentrate on the present moment.  You can get one from your local bookshop or online via Better World Books.

5. Read Dr Ben Irvine's Einstein & the art of mindful cycling which can be bought from most online retailers.

6. Tend to travel on foot? You can do it mindfully once you know how, try some background reading here.

The beneficial effects of exercise on stress are well documented. Many people find that exercising after work really helps them to shake off any stresses from their working day. Walking or cycling home is an easy way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine.

Find out about the health benefits of walking or cycling to work.

Join an air quality movement with the CleanSpace app.

The world’s first dedicated airport cycle officer will help increase the number of Heathrow staff cycling to work through a one year partnership between Sustrans and the London airport.

Heathrow is the largest centre of employment in West London, and is uniquely placed to deliver changes to the cycling experience in the area. Of its 76,000 employees, as many as 16,500 live within 5km of the airport, a distance that could easily be cycled, improving wellbeing among employees and easing congestion and emissions on local road networks.

There is huge potential to significantly improve the health and wellbeing of a large number of Heathrow employees within a short period of time by helping to change the way they travel to work. The scheme will train airport staff to feel more confident on their bikes and will work to make the airport’s cycle routes safer and more accessible.

We will identify current travel behaviour and specific barriers to cycling among staff and plan how to address them through high quality cycling connections to the airport. Easier routes to the airport by bicycle and access to high quality cycle training are essential for making cycling the easy choice for commuters and increasing the number of people on bikes.

Find out more about how Sustrans can help encourage your workforce to get active, or contact our workplaces team.

Belfast commuters could soon be swapping four wheels for two as the city has been chosen for a major European investment to promote cycling as a mode of transport.

Sustrans has won a major grant through Interreg North-West Europe for a project worth a total of €720,000 focusing on the Comber Greenway in east Belfast to make cycling a more attractive option for commuters.

The CHIPS project (Cycle Highways Innovation for Smarter People Transport and Spatial Planning) will see Belfast collaborate with leading cycling nations – the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as Transport for London, Germany and the Republic of Ireland over the next three years.

The 4.4m programme aims to tackle high levels of air pollution caused by car traffic in North-West Europe by building better infrastructure for cyclists and encouraging bicycle commuting. The CHIPS partners forecast a 150 to 300 percent increase in the number of cyclists as a result of the project.

Barriers to cycling

The project will involve coordinating a survey across the nine partners to identify the barriers preventing people commuting by bike. In Belfast this survey will focus on people using the Comber Greenway for their commute. Specifically we will work with key employers close to the Comber Greenway to encourage and support people to cycle. Programmes that we develop in Belfast will be shared and implemented by partners across Europe.

An ‘Active Travel hub’ will be established at the Holywood Arches in east Belfast to provide a public base for the project. There will also be investment in smart cycle storage units utilising modern technology such as swipe cards for security; bike service points and a pilot programme developing the potential of e-bikes for those who have longer distance commutes or live in hillier areas.

Sustrans Northern Ireland Director, Gordon Clarke said: “We are delighted to have won this major investment for cycling in Northern Ireland. There was a lot of competition for this European funding but our consortium of partners from across North-West Europe made our application hard to refuse.

“This is a brilliant boost for cycling on the Comber to Belfast corridor but we will also benefit immensely from the innovations being developed by our partners in Brussels, Frankfurt and the Netherlands.”

Gina McIntyre CEO at the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), said: “We were delighted to support Sustrans in their successful bid for funding from the EU Programme ‘North-West Europe’. The promotion of more sustainable transport initiatives, such as cycling, is essential in contributing to a reduction in carbon emissions, and will complement the transport initiatives planned for the region.”

Read press release on CHIPS project

Find out more about how Sustrans can encourage your workforce to get active

Find out more about the Comber Greenway.

Read about health benefits of walking and cycling.