Research released today by Sustrans shows that car use fell and cycling, walking and bus travel all increased in three English towns that took part in a Government funded programme to boost sustainable forms of transport.
Darlington, Peterborough and Worcester took part in the five year Sustainable Travel Demonstration Town scheme funded by the Department for Transport between 2004 and 2008
Headline figures showed that car use had fallen by 9 per cent across all three towns while cycling was up by 12 per cent in Peterborough and 19 per cent in Worcester. Darlington, which received further Government cash to improve facilities for cyclists, saw levels of cycling more than double over the same period.
Detailed travel surveys conducted by Sustrans and its partner Socialdata on behalf of the Towns revealed the fall in car use by up to 9 per cent across the three towns.
This equates to nearly 53 million miles of car travel taken off the roads across the three towns, resulting in annual savings of more than 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
As car travel has fallen, use of more active and sustainable forms of transport has increased across all three demonstration towns.
Levels of walking increased by more than 10 per cent in each location, while bus use grew by more than a third in Peterborough and by a fifth in Worcester.
Malcolm Shepherd, Sustrans' Chief Executive, said: "These results confirm what we have always suspected - that a lot of people are fed up with being stuck in their cars and that with the right support they are happy to walk, cycle or take the bus more often.
"The Sustainable Travel Towns have demonstrated how simple, value-for-money schemes can make a real difference to travel patterns, helping people to be more active and reduce their carbon footprint. We hope that other towns and cities will now feel inspired to follow their lead."
Transport Minister Paul Clark said: "These results are encouraging and show the real benefit of sustainable travel initiatives in reducing congestion, improving the local environment and encouraging healthier and safer lifestyles.
"I urge local authority leaders across the country to seriously consider how the lessons learnt from these demonstration projects can benefit their local communities."
The three local authorities, Darlington Borough Council, Peterborough City Council and Worcestershire County Council shared a £10 million fund established by the Department for Transport in 2004 to tackle car use and traffic congestion.
The travel survey results are now being fed into a broader evaluation of the Sustainable Travel Towns commissioned by the Department for Transport, which is likely to conclude later this year.
Straight into the sun is perhaps an exaggeration, but at that time it would be about ESE, and there are bits of the road which head roughly SSE, so...
7 October was just a bit of harmless fun until the "msm" ramped it up.
It's not censored if you just pirate it
an example of Kesgraves "best cycling infrastructure in the country" https://maps.app.goo.gl/GsCMbzDUTPdq59qS9
They are not going full gas at every point. They would destroy themselves. And tactics, they save themselves for when effort is really needed....
It turns out that that is national police policy. We found out from this process that there is national 'secured by design' policy which causes...
Been available for quite a while, full GRX mechanical 12 speed. Probably around the same time as 105 mechanical 12 speed if I were to guess.
Less harmful citrus degreaser is easy to find at £8 or less for 5 litres. Works ok for me, even diluted up to 4:1. Both paraffin and white spirit...
Nope, it's to keep your straps down and quieter. Plus most sunglasses are polycarbonate and aren't going to shatter like glass anyway
And, more seriously, where's the coverage of the closure of the cycle lane which forces you to cycle on the Totton bypass.