If we build it, will they come? Does investment encourage cycling?

Yesterday the Department of Transport issued an evaluation report of the Cycling City and Towns.  The report aims to ‘explore their [the people in those areas] experiences, attitudes and behaviours in relation to cycling and the cycling investment in their towns.’

Furthermore: ‘the research aimed to provide evidence to help interpret the findings of the post-intervention survey when the results are available in 2013’ and also ‘it aims to contribute to our understanding of cycling behaviours and how people may best be encouraged to consider cycling as a viable transport option’.

There are 12 Cycling Cities and Towns in the UK which are essentially areas which are testing whether increased investment in cycling encourages long-term behavioural change – or to put it more bluntly: if we build it, will they come?  Among them are Chester, Blackpool and Southport.

The 7.5MB pdf makes interesting reading for anybody interested in what motivates non-cyclists to jump on a bike or occasional cyclists to become more regular users.

Although I’ve not read the entire report [yet] the central finding appears to be an incredibly detailed way to say it’s complicated.

The diagram below shows the various inter-connecting elements which can influence people to cycle more or to cycle at all.  We all have our own ideas on which elements of these should be given precedence over others and these in turn are influenced by our own circumstances and experiences.

Factors which encourage cycling - taken from the report

It’s clear that there’s no silver bullet which will make people take to their bikes in large numbers but the core understanding that effort, in all its forms, needs to be applied to encourage people to do so, is encouraging at least.

The bigger question of course is if, when and how will policy makers respond.