Understanding cycling: past, present and possible futures

Colin G Pooleyc.pooley@lancaster.ac.uk

The problem• Lack of sustainable urban travel• Lack of success in increasing cycling• Lack of understanding of why people in

Britain do not respond to initiatives for more sustainable travel

Key questions

• What makes everyday cycling attractive?

• What makes everyday cycling unattractive?

• How has this changed over time?

• What needs to change to increase cycling?

Evidence: Britain 2012

Car Walk Cycle

% of all trips 64.4 22.2 1.7

% of trips <2 miles (3.2km)

38.2 54.9 1.9

% of trips <5 miles (8.1km)

55.1 33.7 2.1

National Travel Survey, 2012

An international perspective

Walking Cycling

UK 22 1.6

USA 11 1

Belgium 16 8

France 22 2.7

Finland 22 9

Sweden 23 9

Germany 24 10

Denmark 16 18

Netherlands 25 26

Cycling and walking share of daily trips (selected countries)

Pucher, J. and Buehler, R. (2010) ‘Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities’ Built Environment 36. 391-414

The journey to work in the 20th centuryDecade Walking Cycling Public

transportCar/van

1890-99 59.4 2.0 36.6 0.0

1900-09 49.4 11.2 36.8 1.1

1910-19 40.6 13.3 43.2 1.9

1920-29 28.5 17.5 46.0 5.2

1930-39 22.5 19.1 46.0 9.1

1940-49 17.2 19.6 53.4 6.0

1950-59 13.4 16.0 49.1 16.3

1960-69 14.0 5.2 40.5 35.8

1970-79 13.4 4.5 34.6 44.5

1980-89 10.3 6.1 32.5 48.5

1990-99 7.9 6.1 32.0 52.8

Source: Pooley, C., Turnbull J. and Adams, M. (2005) A mobile century? (Ashgate) p. 116

Sources of data• 90 narrative life histories of travel over 20th century (London,

Manchester and Glasgow)(Pooley, C., Turnbull J. and Adams, M. (2005) A mobile century? (Ashgate)).

• Understanding Walking and Cycling Project (UWAC): Leeds, Leicester, Worcester, Lancaster

• Questionnaire (1,417 responses) • Spatial analysis of urban structure• Interviews (40)• Accompanied journeys (40)• Travel ethnographies (20)(Pooley, C. with Jones, T., Tight, M. Horton, D., Scheldeman, G., Mullen, C., Jopson, A. and

Strano, E. (2013) Promoting walking and cycling: new perspectives on sustainable travel (The Policy Press)).

Reasons for cycling in the past

• Well it [cycling] was really the only way. Cause there was such a tremendous detour using public transport … well the time factor, it was horrendous. (RJ14, Manchester, male, 1930s)

• I’m afraid I never liked travelling on trams. … they were never very comfortable and if you went on the top deck it was very uncomfortable because there was smoking on the upper deck. I would sooner ride a bike. (RJ32, Manchester, male, 1930s)

• Well I used to get up at about, I used to get up at about six o’clock I think and I would cycle, it was the only way, there was no other way of doing it. … there was no public, there was no buses at that time. I had to cycle to the station which was about four miles. (RJ82, London, male, 1950s)

Reasons for stopping cycling

• If I’d got to look particularly smart for some reason to see somebody, and you’ve got to keep yourself spick and span. Can’t always do it on bicycle, it depends on the weather, so any things like that would have changed the routine. (RJ41, London, male, 1940s)

• Once you get a car it’s very tempting when the weather turns bad to just say, oh I’m not going to cycle this morning. … I think speed was the essence at that time too, and availability of parking. Parking would be alright for a car but for a cycle sometimes a bit difficult. It was easy to park the car, and it was safe ‘cos you can lock it, but with a bike you can lock it and still get/still lose it. (RJ24, Manchester, male, 1960s)

• There might have been the odd days [I cycled] but in the main once you got the car you know. It was far more convenient. (RJ31, London, male, 1960s)

Changing attitudes to the car• If you had access to a car at that stage … you would

have used that for leisure only. It would not have occurred to you to use it for work. (RJ04, Manchester, male, 1950s)

• Well, then I acquired my own car and mainly it was just so I’d got more convenience, and could come and go as I wanted. (RJ87, Manchester, female, 1960s)

• I think once you start using it [the car], I find that’s the trouble, the thing seduces you. (R76, Glasgow, female, 1990s)

Statement Leicester Lancaster Leeds WorcesterI would find cycling enjoyable

2.3 2.3 2.5 2.3

I would get a sense of freedom

2.3 2.3 2.4 2.2

I would feel part of my community

3.1 3.1 3.2 3.0

I would find it relaxing

2.6 2.5 2.7 2.6

It would benefit my health

1.6 1.6 1.6 1.7

It would mean I contribute less to climate change

2.0 2.1 2.0 2.0

contribute less to local air pollution

1.8 1.9 1.9 1.9

If I make, or were to make journeys by bicycle …..

1=strongly agree; 3=neutral; 5=strongly disagree

Attitudes towards cycling in the 21st century (UWAC)

Key influences on walking and cycling

• Physical environment: risk, (connectivity, land-use mix)

• Household and family (children, trip chaining, space etc)

• Perceptions of normality: car use is habitual and expected

Risk• I find cycling around here incredibly dangerous. (Brian, Leeds,

interview).

• I did have a bicycle. I did try to cycle but I am not comfortable at all with cycling … I’m always scared of the traffic around me. (Molly, Leicester, interview).

• I am not a happy cyclist … I’m not comfortable in traffic, so the kind of bike riding I’d prefer to do would be away from traffic completely. (Alison, Lancaster, go-along).

• I wouldn’t cycle on the roads because it’s far too dangerous. (Aidan, Leeds, ethnography).

Cycling with childrenThere’s just no way I’d cycle in the city centre, andthere’s no way I’d let my kids cycle there either. It’stoo dangerous. (Sandra, Leeds)

Of course I want my kids to cycle. I love cycling. They canget free training which’ll make them better cyclists. Buta big part of me hates the idea of them riding on theroads, so I do wonder why we’re bothering to teachthem. It’s like creating a false expectation, isn’t it?(Brian, Lancaster)

Family and household constraints

We’d like to [cycle more] but when children are smaller it’s actually, there’s very few places where they can safely cycle, in terms of roads … [Cycling as a family] … that’s very difficult while my youngest is still on stabilizers and not confident. I don’t want to put her on a road with much traffic. (Jason Leicester).

With the demands of family and work and everything there’s not much time or energy [for walking and cycling]. (Percy, Worcester).

The clutter of walking and cycling

The abnormality of cycling• I don’t cycle locally because I think the area, and the young people

and stuff might take the mickey a little bit, or have a good laugh about it … there’d be people maybe having a laugh and a joke about, you know, ‘she’s a bit old to be using a bike’ and stuff … my daughter’s friends saying ‘I saw your mum on a bike earlier’ and stuff – it might be a bit of an embarrassment for her as well. (Sadie, Leeds, ethno, focus group).

• I don’t know anyone that bikes. (Catrina, Lancaster, interview).

• It’s not a cool thing for a girl to be on a bike. (Anju, Leicester, ethno).

• People still assume that there’s something wrong with you if you don’t drive (Bob, Leeds).

What needs to change?

• Make using cars for short trips in urban areas more difficult

• Make using cars for short trips in urban areas feel abnormal

• Make cycling easy, safe and comfortable

• Make cycling normal

Making cycling easy (providing the best possible cycling environment on different routes)

• Fully separated cycle and pedestrian routes on all arterial roads.

• Restrictions on traffic speeds, parking, access etc on all residential roads

• Adopt ‘strict liability’ on roads to protect the most vulnerable road users

• Changes to structure of cities to make accessing services by bike easy, and storing and parking bikes easy

• Societal and economic changes to give people flexibility to travel more sustainably (flexi hours, school provision etc)

• Change the image of cycling so that it becomes ‘normal’

Changing the image of cycling

Further information• Pooley, C., Tight, M., Jones, T., Horton, D. Scheldeman, G. Jopson, A.

Mullen, C. Strano, E. and Constantine, S. (2011) Understanding Walking and Cycling: Summary of key findings and recommendations (Lancaster: Lancaster University) http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/50409/1/Understanding_Walking_Cycling_Report.pdf

• Pooley, C. with Jones, T., Tight, M. Horton, D., Scheldeman, G., Mullen, C., Jopson, A. and Strano, E. (2013) Promoting walking and cycling: new perspectives on sustainable travel (Bristol: The Policy Press). http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781447310082&sf1=keyword&st1=Pooley&m=1&dc=2

• UWAC Policy Briefing: http://www.policypress.co.uk/PDFs/General/Pooley_Policy_briefing.pdf