Health & Transport
Cycling Demonstration Towns
Results from the first three years of the Cycling Demonstration Towns programme show that it has been a major success. All six towns achieved their aim of getting more people cycling, more safely, more often and this means that, for the first time in the UK outside London, the national trend of a gradual decline in cycling levels has been reversed. A comprehensive evaluation of the investment in Aylesbury, Brighton & Hove, Darlington, Derby, Exeter and Lancaster with Morecambe has shown:
- An average increase in cycling across all six towns of 27%
- The increase is the result of more people starting to cycle, or returning to cycling again, not just the result of cyclists using their bikes for more trips
- Cycling to school has more than doubled where towns invested most in children
- Cycling investment generates town-wide increases in physical activity
- These results were not found in comparable towns
- This growth matches the cycling growth rates in London
- Investment in cycling pays back at least 3:1
View analysis and synthesis report
View Making a cycle town - Report of project from cycle demo towns