August 6, 2020Back for a ninth year, Cycle to Work Day 2020, is encouraging as many people as possible to get out on their bikes on Thursday 6 July, be it to commute to the office, or as part of their daily exercise.
With many people still working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, this year marks a great opportunity to oil up that chain and get out for a swift ride on a lunchbreak.
As part of the Government’s return to work plan, many people were urged to consider cycling to work, to restrict the pressure on public transport and help control the spread of the virus. Over £50m was promised by the government, to help people get their bikes repaired and make them safe to ride.
Back in June, Cycling Weekly Magazine reported that over half of employees living in cities were considering cycling to work following the coronavirus pandemic, with two-thirds saying this is in order to avoid “unsafe” public transport, according to a survey by OnBuy.com.
Respondents said that that the period of lockdown made them appreciate the benefits of having a bike, especially with the quieter roads.
Cities including London, Cambridge and Manchester, have made drastic changes to accommodate cycling, including dedicated safe cycling lanes in some areas. However, in 2019, SHP reported that one in four commuters still fear that it is too dangerous to cycle to work.
The number of journey’s travelled by bike barely changed between 2002 and 2018, accounting for 1.8% of all journeys during that period. But with face coverings now mandatory on public transport, bike usage has seen an increase since the pandemic began. This is evidenced by the increase of usage of so-called ‘Boris Bikes’ in London, with the amount of bikes hired and returned to the same docking station going up five times during lockdown, showing that people were using bikes a lot more for leisure purposes.
Cycling doesn’t just have fitness benefits though, in 2019 The Independent reported that commuters could save up to £1,400 a year by cycling to work. Its research indicated that one in five professionals cycle to work, with 46% saying it’s a quicker option that driving or public transport.
For more details on safe cycling routes near you, click here.
Employers can get involved in Cycle to Work Day 2020 by downloading this free toolkit.
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From what I was seeing during lockdown there’s a lot of cyclists who need to read the highway code and undertake training. Several co-workers are serious cyclists and they’ve had many near misses with unaware riders, the pavement riders who launch themselves out onto the road especially. My commute is too far with some serious hills to consider commuting in a bicycle (no showers allowed at work doesn’t help), so a motorcycle is my choice, but it seems HMG fears motorcycling and motorcyclists and won’t promote the most efficient motorised mode of solo transport.
As with many cities under Labour council control our roads have been allowed to disintegrate for years with little or no maintenance, making cycling dangerous due to exposed drain edges, potholes and linear splits. They have however now painted thick white lines to denote wide ‘cycle lanes’ on all the major routes into and out of the city, thus creating massive traffic tailbacks where there were none before, with the one or two cyclists per hour using the ‘new’ lanes suffering from the increased pollution as a result. Once winter arrives how many of the ‘new’ summer cyclist commuters will give up and drive, making matters even worse?