26th
Gearing-Up for Change?
Fresh from the success of Beijing, British Cycling looked like it was set for good time. But nine months later, has anything changed?
GBR’s success at the Beijing Olympics came as a surprise to many, but none more-so than our grumps. For decades the Olympics have provided grumbling-material for discontented old-farts, but this, it seems, is a thing of the past.
Belittlers across the land have been forced to find something else to grumble about. No longer can we whinge and moan about our sporting failure. No longer does our reputation as the ‘last-to-be-picked’ on the sports team propagate our nation’s naysayers.
We, and by ‘we’ I mean our British athletes, had actually won. A lot.
So what’s next? How do we build upon our success as a country, how do we bring sport to the masses - this of course is one of the major objectives of the games, isn’t it?
Since the economy and swine-flu have dominated the headlines, London 2012 has fallen off the tips of people’s tongues. But it’s coming. And Britain as a nation has a long way to go in getting, and keeping people active.
The government has made many promises regarding sport, but particularly cycling. Cycling is a sport where team GBR have really excelled, but also one in which everyone can get involved.
Very few people are good at athletics. Rowing is intensive and expensive, as is sailing, and equine sports. But cycling can be and often is a daily activity. It’s different from other sports because you don’t need to be any good to take part. For many people and organisations this makes it the perfect sport in which to invest time and money.
As a means to an increasingly-active-end cycling is a wonder-sport, not to mention a hobby and an eco-friendly, congestion-free form of transportation. But there are problems. Cue the grumps.
Since the nation’s success in Beijing the government has stepped-up sports funding to ensure this run of medals continues. But for many people, that’s exactly the problem. Between 2006 and 2009, the Olympic squad of 28 riders have received just under £18 million in funding, that’s with a 22% increase after their success in Beijing. It means almost a million pounds of tax-payer’s money is being spent on each potential medal the cyclists could bring home. The problem is that funding is largely concentrated around specific teams of athletes, which is great for stocking up on reserves of Olympiad ‘bling’, but for the man on the street (who at the end of the day is paying for it), it offers very little.
With rising rates of obesity, heart-disease and diabetes, it’s clear the nation is in need of a push towards living more active lifestyles. There are worrying statistics released year after year about the health of our children. So how do we go about remedying this situation? For many people the answer is clear: Bicycles.
We seem to be a little behind the times here in the UK when it comes to cycling. Take a trip to any European country and bicycles are rife among city streets. Why? Because nearly everyone can afford them, they cost next to nothing to run, and often they’re the quickest and most convenient way of getting around. Makes sense right?
So why are we in the UK so reluctant to put bums on saddles? Especially when public transport can be quite expensive, not to mention the expense required to run a car. Is it that us Brits are inherently lazy? We’d rather splash the cash than get of our arses? Or is there something stopping people?
Sustrans are fierce campaigners for sustainable transport, (hence the name) and the charity behind the national cycle network. They claim that 75% of us are within a couple of miles of the network, meaning there are many more people out there for whom cycling to work is at least possible. Still though, the UK is struggling to raise its number of two-wheeled commuters to anywhere near the levels elsewhere in Europe. Even students, traditionally famous for hailing the virtues of cycling, are reluctant to lube a chain, pump-up their tyres and hit the road.
Gemma Fulcher is a student in Nottingham. She studies fashion and marketing, an arty course widely taken by free-thinking bohemian types. But she, and the large majority of her colleagues, refuses to get on a bike, instead preferring the tram at almost three-quid a day. In some student bars that’s at least a couple of drinks. So why not save spending the scant borrowed cash?
“Cycling is great, but I’m scared to buy a bike because it’d probably get stolen. There’s also a lot of traffic in Nottingham and there are only bike lanes in the city centre. I’d be pretty worried about getting knocked-down.”
It’s this lack of confidence that has the UK at a disadvantage to the rest of Europe, perhaps even the world. Worries about safety and crime are shared by thousands of people across the country, and provides a barrier to people who’d otherwise be happy to jump on a bike.
In a recent letter to the guardian, Sustrans travel director Philip Insall voiced the opinion the Olympics should be bringing more sport to people’s everyday lives.
“Some have dared hope that Great Britain’s haul of Olympic cycling medals will prompt a cycling revival, and so solve the nation’s obesity crisis. This may happen, but not unless we invest significantly more in cycle-friendly infrastructure.”
Recent figures show a total UK investment in transport of £19.6 billion in 2008. In England only 0.3% of this went towards cycling, and in London only 0.75% was spent on walking and cycling together. It’s a paltry set of figures, the equivalent of around £1 spending per person every year.
In comparison the Netherlands spent €27 per person in 2008 on cycling alone (around £24 at today’s exchange rate). They eclipsed our entire budget for walking and cycling, just improving cycle-parking at train stations.
With figures like that, it’s clear the government could be investing more in cycling, and Sustrans aren’t the only people who think that. They have over eighty different health and transport organisations backing them in their campaign for re-prioritising public spending.
“It is time to change our approach to transport investment, and prioritise public health over speeding motor traffic,” says Mr Insall. “This could have as big an impact on obesity as our investment in elite sport has had on our one-time Olympic medal drought, without having to find one additional pound.”
Some may argue a comparison with the Netherlands is an unfair one. They, along with many other EU countries, have a culture of cycling where the UK perhaps doesn’t. Amsterdam is famous for two-wheeled transportation, many would say as a result of its narrow streets and canals. But why can’t we change our attitudes to cycling? Why shouldn’t UK towns and cities become home to two wheels? Thankfully there are exceptions to the rule which prove it’s possible.
Oxford is dominated by bicycles. The train station is surrounded by a sea of metal and rubber, and every lamp-post and railing fosters a bike. Its large student population propagates this of course, but why are the people of Oxford less worried about crime and traffic than the rest of the country?
James Black studies Music at Oxford, and says the city’s attitudes toward two-wheeled transportation make it really easy to cycle in.
“There are so many bikes in Oxford it’s very unlikely yours is going to get stolen. No-one feels the need to spend much money on bikes either so it’s not the end of the world if yours goes missing. My bike’s old and tatty, so I’ve never had a problem. The terrain’s also relatively flat, which obviously makes biking a bit easier.”
Because of this free and easy approach to cycling, there are surprisingly few cars to be seen around the city centre, which makes the job of getting around far easier to do. It’s the same in Amsterdam and many other European cities, and Bristol City Council is hoping to do the same for its streets.
Similar to Amsterdam, Bristol is based on a complex array of harbours, rivers and canals. As a result there are lots of one-way streets, and travelling by car can make it fairly difficult to get around the city centre. Recently the Council submitted a successful bid to become a UK cycling city. This means it will receive a great deal more funding and possibly the addition of hop-on-hop-off hired bikes.
“We’re at the beginning of a long process to improve Bristol’s cycling infrastructure, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction, and we’re right behind it” said Sustrans spokesperson Matt Davies.
Bristol could prove to be a model for UK cycling. Famous cycling cafe ‘Mud Dock’ provides secure parking, lockers and showers for commuters, enabling people to get to work without arriving sweaty and smelly. Replicating this across people’s workplaces could boost the uptake of UK cyclists, but businesses are reluctant to fork out for such facilities.
“The profitability of these services is neither here nor there really,” says Mud Dock owner Jerry Arron. “Businesses are finding that people want to cycle to work though, and newly built premises are installing these facilities. In the old buildings around the city centre though this just isn’t possible, and the council won’t let you lock your bike to railings. What people need is secure parking, showers and lockers, so they don’t have to commute in their work clothes. There’s a huge demand for it, and the government should be building bike-parks with these services.”
The government are making headway in encouraging cycle use with initiatives like ‘Cyclescheme.’ Businesses subscribe to the scheme and in doing so help their employees cycle to work by enabling them to buy bikes minus the VAT. It’s a nationwide scheme, and offers tax-cuts for the firms, but Jerry says it has its pitfalls.
“It’s great that they’re providing cheaper bikes, but that’s not really the barrier that people face when cycling to work. If they’re putting more people on two-wheels they need to be thinking of where those people are going to put their bikes when they get there. Its improvements like that which are going to keep people cycling long-term.”
Perhaps the government should instead be subsidising companies in creating cycle to work facilities.
With the European Parliament elections on the 4th of June, cheap, sustainable transport is a bit of a fervent issue. James Lowey is standing in the elections under the banner of the ‘Jury Team’, a party for independents.
“Cheap environmentally-friendly transport is a big thing for me. I’m only young and I don’t drive, so I know what public transport is like. I feel really strongly about sustainable transport, it’s exactly the kind of thing I’d like to vote for.”
“Needless to say I’ll be going by train to Brussels, rather than flying,” He added.
Perhaps that’s exactly what’s needed: European law enshrining our rights to ride a bike and forcing the government to cough up. Labour’s car-scrappage scheme seemed to be a step in the right direction, but for Sustrans it’s an economic exercise cloaked in a cotton-wool PR dream; the environment.
“Encouraging people to buy new cars instead of investing in walking, cycling and public transport means reduced investment in transport modes that increase people’s activity and health, and provides wider societal benefits by reducing traffic volumes,” said Policy Director Peter Lipman in a recent statement. “The Government’s car scrappage scheme makes the assumption that the only way to get around is by car and penalises those households that don’t run a car. We need to look at accessibility of transport and the travel choices people are offered.”
Of course we can blame the government all we want, but ultimately the public has to show they’re in support of cycling, and this means shaking off the stigma that bikes may sometimes attract. In Oxford grown men are quite happy to be seen on a rusty town bike, complete with sit-up-and-beg handlebars and a wicker basket. With the economy still looking rather pear-shaped, and the summer sun just starting to blossom, its high time people hung-up those car keys and dusted-off their push-bikes.
