Why Travel Actively
Cycling: good for you, good for Crewe.
Why spend money on cycling infrastructure?
Crewe suffers the worst lifestyle health in Cheshire. We have the most obese population in Cheshire. People in St. Barnabas ward are 58% more likely to die of respiratory diseases than the England average. We have three areas with air quality warnings. All of the monitors that worked recorded an increase in Nitrous Oxide which is linked to asthma. The monitors have only a 20% accuracy which means that all of them except one could be breaking acceptable EU limits.
Traffic flows are worse than ever. The average speed along Nantwich road is about ten miles per hour, the same speed as average leisurely cycling. This speed drops significantly in peak hours.
Crewe is nationally recognised as the town with the worst levels of debt in the country. The RAC estimates that a quarter of the average income is spent on maintaining a car. While the cost of living increased by 38% in ten years, fuel rose 75%. Most of this is on fuel and insurance, meaning that 90% leaves the local economy. If just 1000 people could use alternative transport, AA calculations indicate that £3,146,500 would be saved to spend in the town. This would represent a major boost to the local economy, coupled with the fact that not only have cyclists more disposable income, they are more likely to spend it in local shops.
Crewe has the perfect geography for cycling. Small and flat, with an unusually high proportion of people working within 2 miles of their homes. It has a famous cycling history, up till the early 1980s it had the second highest proportion of cycling journeys after Oxford with ten thousand rail workers sweeping down West Street at the end of the shift. This may be the reason that Crewe motorists are unusually sympathetic to cycling, which contributes to the fact that numerically cycling is the safest form of transport. There have been no cycling fatalities in the last dozen years, against a score of pedestrians and vehicle occupants killed.
Figures released this month state that the national average for cycle journeys to work is 4%. An increase of 1% a year for the last two years. Meanwhile cycling in Crewe has plummeted 1% per year from 40% in 1980 to 8% in 2010 and then 5.7% in 2012. Much of this is a result of the closure of Crewe works, but some of it must be attributable to changes in road layouts that favour cars over cycles or pedestrians. For example, now you cannot cycle from St Paul's in Hightown through the town to the municipal buildings. Cyclists are forced to go down a dual carriageway; a wide right turn and a third turn off a roundabout. Compare this to similar geographic areas with higher spending on cycling; Hackney has 14.6%, Kensington and Chelsea 12.8% and Cambridge with the lead at 29.9%. All these pale into insignificance with continental towns which have worked hard to achieve the cycling rates of Crewe 30 years ago. They spend up to 20% of their tax precepts on cycling to create safe, social and healthy spaces where people spend money and enjoy a better environment altogether.
The RAC states that cycling is higher in lower income bands, at 3.3%.Many low paid workers cycle because they cannot afford a car or the bus. These vulnerable families deserve the best infrastructure we can build.
Why spend money on cycling infrastructure?
Crewe suffers the worst lifestyle health in Cheshire. We have the most obese population in Cheshire. People in St. Barnabas ward are 58% more likely to die of respiratory diseases than the England average. We have three areas with air quality warnings. All of the monitors that worked recorded an increase in Nitrous Oxide which is linked to asthma. The monitors have only a 20% accuracy which means that all of them except one could be breaking acceptable EU limits.
Traffic flows are worse than ever. The average speed along Nantwich road is about ten miles per hour, the same speed as average leisurely cycling. This speed drops significantly in peak hours.
Crewe is nationally recognised as the town with the worst levels of debt in the country. The RAC estimates that a quarter of the average income is spent on maintaining a car. While the cost of living increased by 38% in ten years, fuel rose 75%. Most of this is on fuel and insurance, meaning that 90% leaves the local economy. If just 1000 people could use alternative transport, AA calculations indicate that £3,146,500 would be saved to spend in the town. This would represent a major boost to the local economy, coupled with the fact that not only have cyclists more disposable income, they are more likely to spend it in local shops.
Crewe has the perfect geography for cycling. Small and flat, with an unusually high proportion of people working within 2 miles of their homes. It has a famous cycling history, up till the early 1980s it had the second highest proportion of cycling journeys after Oxford with ten thousand rail workers sweeping down West Street at the end of the shift. This may be the reason that Crewe motorists are unusually sympathetic to cycling, which contributes to the fact that numerically cycling is the safest form of transport. There have been no cycling fatalities in the last dozen years, against a score of pedestrians and vehicle occupants killed.
Figures released this month state that the national average for cycle journeys to work is 4%. An increase of 1% a year for the last two years. Meanwhile cycling in Crewe has plummeted 1% per year from 40% in 1980 to 8% in 2010 and then 5.7% in 2012. Much of this is a result of the closure of Crewe works, but some of it must be attributable to changes in road layouts that favour cars over cycles or pedestrians. For example, now you cannot cycle from St Paul's in Hightown through the town to the municipal buildings. Cyclists are forced to go down a dual carriageway; a wide right turn and a third turn off a roundabout. Compare this to similar geographic areas with higher spending on cycling; Hackney has 14.6%, Kensington and Chelsea 12.8% and Cambridge with the lead at 29.9%. All these pale into insignificance with continental towns which have worked hard to achieve the cycling rates of Crewe 30 years ago. They spend up to 20% of their tax precepts on cycling to create safe, social and healthy spaces where people spend money and enjoy a better environment altogether.
The RAC states that cycling is higher in lower income bands, at 3.3%.Many low paid workers cycle because they cannot afford a car or the bus. These vulnerable families deserve the best infrastructure we can build.
It's a healthy and social way to travel
No one is too important, or too old to enjoy active travel.
It makes you feel better, in mind and body.
http://publications.nice.org.uk/walking-and-cycling-local-measures-to-promote-walking-and-cycling-as-forms-of-travel-or-recreation-ph41.
It makes you feel better, in mind and body.
http://publications.nice.org.uk/walking-and-cycling-local-measures-to-promote-walking-and-cycling-as-forms-of-travel-or-recreation-ph41.
Buses count, and it's cheaper than petrol.
There are frequent buses running all over Crewe and district, linking the station with most work places. At the moment it costs £6.50 for petrol to get to Hanley and back, and only £4.90 by bus. A family of 5 can go for £9.70 and that includes unlimited travel with first group, so why go by car?
It's often faster than driving
The sun has just got up, it's freezing, but these cyclists are warm and coasted to the the station in 4 minutes, rather than 20.
