Locally here Drakes Trail, the Exe Estuary Trail and now the newly opened bike route from Newton Abbott to Bovey Tracey are all really popular.
I don't think traffic planners understand that there is a pent up demand for cycling but politicians are just beginning to comprehend this. I am hoping over the next 10 years that there will be a big change in attitude in our country. This is a slogan in Ireland agreed by the politicians.
"Burn Fat, not Oil" is the message from Galway Council and the local cycling campaign and here it is:
If you cannot quite read the words on the sign, here is the close up:
In Malmo in Sweden, the Council created an excellent cycle network. Its slogan was "NO RIDICULOUS CAR JOURNEYS". The result was numbers of journeys by bike rose to 25% of all journeys while use of cars fell by a similar amount. The vision for London is that "Cycling will become an integral part of the transport network. It should be a normal part of every day life, something people hardly think about and feel comfortable doing in ordinary clothes"
Today, I saw a family on tour with young children and dad was using a cargo bike. They were cycling through Ashburton and all had smiles on their faces.
It would benefit lots of people for greater recognition of cycling to be normal.
