£5m to get us cycling and walking at a safe distance
CYCLING and walking in Greater Manchester are to get a £5m boost to help people travel while social-distancing and avoid a spike in car use.
Since all but essential travel was banned in March, traffic has plummeted by 60 per cent, while walking and cycling account for around 33pc of all journeys and cycling alone has grown by 22pc.
As reported in the M.E.N., pollution and congestion have fallen as a result.
The huge change to our travelling habits is clearly down to the unprecedented restrictions on our lives as a result of the Covid-19 crisis – but leaders are now looking at how to further enable this to continue during the recovery phase. They are also aware of the urgent need to mitigate a potential upswing in car use as people are put off public transport in a world of infection control.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham told a press conference they were looking at staggered shifts and more home working – but were also hoping that people would choose to walk or cycle to travel where possible.
As part of a vow to ‘build back better,’ a £5m cash injection from the mayor’s cycling and walking fund will provide space for pedestrians and boost cyclefriendly routes aimed at enabling socially-distanced journeys and exercise both now and in the future. Part of a campaign dubbed Safe Streets Save Lives, measures will include pavement extensions, one-way streets, removing through-traffic on roads and adding cycle lanes.
Side-road zebra crossings – already in the pre-Covid pipeline – will be fast-tracked.
Chris Boardman, Greater Manchester’s cycling guru, said they were also looking to extend a loan scheme which has already provided 472 bikes to NHS workers. An extension to the cycle-towork scheme could also be on the horizon – with a push to somehow include self-employed people.
A new bike hire scheme to replace the failed Mobike initiative will not be ready ‘until next spring,’ said Mr Boardman, but he added it could be ‘moved up the pecking order’ if backed by the public will.
The ‘emergency’ changes will be implemented where most needed – outside shops, transport hubs or on routes to hospitals - and it’s hoped they will help to achieve the authorities’ goal of being carbon neutral by 2038. This will build on the Bee Network scheme – a 10-year £1.5bn plan for Chris Boardman cycling and walking lanes across Greater Manchester. Mr Boardman said people needed the space to keep themselves safe, adding: “If we don’t take steps to enable people to keep travelling actively, we risk a huge spike in car use as measures are eased. Not only is it the right thing to do to protect people now, but it’s vital to meet our clean air goals and protect our NHS long term.”
Nine of our local authorities have shared the schemes they would like to see green-lighted as coronavirus response measures and they await approval. Rochdale declined to offer up a plan.