A new report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling & Walking (APPGCW) has highlighted significant socio-economic barriers to cycling and called for reforms to make active travel more inclusive in the UK.
The report, released on Thursday, emphasizes the pressing issue of social injustice in active travel. Olly Glover, the Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot and Wantage and a member of the APPGCW, told Cycling Weekly: “There is a lot of socio-economic variation in who walks, cycles, and wheels at the moment, and we really don’t tackle those barriers.”
Glover stressed that a lack of equitable access to active travel presents missed opportunities to reduce urban congestion, lower air pollution, and improve public health. “That’s why action is needed,” he said.
The report makes nine key recommendations to address these challenges:
- Reduce financial barriers to cycling.
- Address the issue of pavement parking.
- Implement better data collection for monitoring and evaluation.
- Provide UK-wide access to free cycle training, expanding its reach.
- Establish Inclusive Mobility as a minimum standard for infrastructure design.
- Ensure meaningful involvement of interest groups in policy development.
- Strengthen the effectiveness of community-based organizations.
- Integrate social justice into local transport performance management.
- Remove access barriers from public cycleways, footpaths, parks, and other amenities, and increase efforts to combat the anti-social use of motorcycles.
Authored by Dr. Tom Cohen and Dr. Ersilia Verlinghieri from the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy, the report was supported by British Cycling and Leigh Day.
The issue of underrepresentation in cycling is a key focus. Glover pointed out the need to understand why certain groups, such as ethnic minorities and women, cycle less than others. He emphasized the importance of engaging these communities and their representative organizations in policy discussions to ensure that the needs of all groups are reflected in transport schemes.
The report also suggests reforming the Cycle to Work scheme, proposing a rebranding of the initiative as “Cycle for Health” to make it more accessible. While the scheme has had positive results for many, Glover noted its limitations, such as its inaccessibility to low-income individuals, the self-employed, and pensioners. Expanding access to the scheme, he argued, could bring the benefits of cycling to a broader demographic.
“Walking, cycling, and wheeling, unlike virtually all other forms of transport, have the ability to solve so many problems,” Glover explained. “They enable economic activity, reduce carbon emissions and air pollution at a low cost, and improve our cardiovascular and mental health.”
The report concludes by stating that active travel should be accessible to all, but currently, it is not. It highlights the disproportionate barriers faced by groups such as children, disabled people, women, and ethnic minorities, who are underrepresented in cycling and other forms of active travel. The report calls for a moral and practical response to ensure that everyone can benefit from the positive impacts of active travel, with a massive shift in participation needed to achieve greater social justice in transport.
The APPGCW’s findings reflect a growing concern about the unequal distribution of benefits from active travel. By addressing socio-economic barriers and ensuring inclusive access, the report argues, the UK could unlock the full potential of cycling and walking as solutions to urban challenges.
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