Meeting up with other Cycling Towns

The other week we went to Woking to meet up with people from other Cycling Towns. These are useful times to learn from others and share experience.

Cycling England presented findings from the last three years of the first round of six towns showing real success with three messages:

1. it works
2. it's not expensive
3. it pays back.

There were people there from Aylesbury, Brighton, Cambridge, Colchester, Derby, Exeter, Leighton-Linslade, Southend and of course, Woking.

Some points from the other towns:

Aylesbury: Gemstone Cycle Routes into and around town. They're about to launch the ninth cycle gemstone cycle route they are going to further improve and highlight the continuity of the routes by sticking reflective gemstone stickers on to lamp columns, with the relevant colour of the gem on them.

Brighton: Are about to implement the first interactive cycle counters in the UK

Cambridge: A 15 mile long Busway due to open soon with 3 metres wide cyclepath alongside it - will become a cycling super-highway linking Cambridge and St Ives.

Colchester: Tying all their marketing closely to when their infrastructure is being completed.

Derby: Have put all their effort into working with young people. A council driven £50m project has been announced for a national standard BMX track, 250 metre indoor arena & a 2km closed road circuit.

Exeter: Contrary to the hierachy of provision for cycling, they have focused infrastructure on shared use routes.

Leighton-Linslade (smallest of the towns): GoCycle Bank Holiday - We launched this year with a brand new cycling holiday (4th January)  in the spirit that people should take a day to off go cycling and explore because it is good for their health. (this was primarily due to a typo on their GoCycle Calendar - but seems to have been well received).

Southend: The Bike Re Cycle Centre recycles bikes donated by the public, the Police and the Railway to offer bikes for a low cost.

Woking: Shamelessly pinched the Gemstone Routes idea from Aylesbury and named them after Planets (H.G. Wells was a Woking lad). Also putting in more than 750 parking spaces at the station.

So what little nugget did we have to share about Bristol?

"Bristol is hilly (the Bristol Cycling Campaign do a 'Bastard Hills of North Bristol' ride aiming to go up as many of them as possible). And yet it has a cycling mode share of about 7% (2008). From 2003 to 2007 the rate of growth was 7% a year. For the past two years the growth rate has been 14% a year."

Bristol's better by bike. Get out and Motivate a Mate.