Britain is launching an ambitious program in hopes of inspiring commuters to choose bicycles over cars as their main means of transportation. The £100 million program will be dispersed among several "bicycle towns," with the majority being allocated to Bristol, deemed Britain's first official "cycling city."
Bristol, a city with over 400,000 residents in southwest England, is already hard at work deciding how to use the funds. Among their planned initiatives:
- Cycle "hubs" that allow riders to lock their bikes under cover, repair a tire puncture and even take a shower before heading into work.
- A bike-hire program similar to what one might see in Paris, where people can pay a £10 fee for a smartcard that will allow them to unlock bikes from stands at designated locations, travel where they need to go, then return the bike to another stand. The first half-hour would be at no charge, with an estimated £1 charge per hour after.
- Paths limited strictly to bicycles could soon link the suburbs to the city center and the number of school children receiving cycle training will jump from 1,100 to 2,000.
- Residents will be given the opportunity to haul their old, rusty, unused bikes out of permanent storage and donate them to the city. A team of mechanics will fix up the old bikes, which will then be given to those who can't afford to buy one.
- Dangerous road junctions that pose a threat to cyclists will be reconstructed to force drivers to slow down. Boxes will also be painted on the road at traffic lights to safely allow cyclists to maneuver through long lines of vehicles to the front where they are easily visible to drivers.
Bristol will receive £11.4 million from the program, but plans to spend £23 million over the next three years in hopes of doubling the amount of cycling activity in the city. In total, Britain's Department for Transport will allocate £47 million to various towns for similar cycling initiatives and each grant will be matched locally.
Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary,said: “A quarter of journeys made every day by car are less than two miles. Cycling could bring real health benefits to millions of adults and children as well as helping them save money and beat congestion.”
Not only does Ruth make a valid point about the health and financial benefits of cycling (especially with the cost of gas steadily going up), but it's also pretty darn good news from an environmental perspective as well. By removing possible obstacles (both literally and figuratively) from the paths of potential cyclists, the incentive to hop on two wheels is much greater. Now other countries need to sit up, pay attention and follow Britain's example!
» Times Online