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Bike across the Mersey

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Well done Merseyside. Targets to increase cycling levels have been met a full year of schedule.

The Merseyside Transport Partnership (MTP) had set a target to increase cycling levels by 10% by April 2011 when it started its five year Local Transport Plan in April 2006. Figures to the end of the March 2010 now show that cycling levels have increased by 14.3% from 2006.

In the year to the end of March 2010, there was an increase in cycling levels by 10% alone from the same period the year before.

The increase in cycling levels has been achieved through a variety of means. Funding in improved infrastructure has seen the building of a greater network of cycle routes across Merseyside and investment has also been made to enhance cycling facilities on trains and at stations.

There has also been specific investment focus on the areas of Southport, which became a Cycling England Cycle Town in 2008, and the town of Speke, which received funding from the European Regional Development Fund to fund projects to get more people to cycle there.

Other initiatives put in place by the MTP include the training of both adults and children in cycle skills and bike maintenance, as well as campaigns to raise awareness of the benefits of cycling.

Neil Scales, Chair of MTP, said that the Partnership would continue to invest in encouraging people to cycle more often and try to get people to use their bicycles for a greater variety of trips as part of a new five year plan that is set to start in April 2011.

MTP monitors its cycling levels by 40 automatic counters that have been set up across Merseyside. These counters are supplemented by manual audits.

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