Bikeability Scotland with Active Travel Dundee – Best Practice in Travel to School and Work Systems
In 2021-22, following two heavily disrupted years during the pandemic, Dundee delivered Bikeability Scotland training to all of their 33 primary schools for the first time, with nearly 3,000 pupils benefitting from the opportunity to develop essential life skills.
This included 97% of the authority’s primaries participating in Level 2 on-road training, with over 1,300 pupils gaining new life skills and confidence to cycle now and into the future.
Working with Cycling Scotland, the Active Travel (Schools) team at Ancrum, now provides a full package of support for curricular-based cycle training to Dundee schools, including school engagement and road safety information, as well as access to instructors, bikes, and bike maintenance.
Cycling Friendly School – Best Practice in Travel to School and Work Systems
The nationally accredited Cycling Friendly School programme is designed to support schools who wish to make it easier for children to cycle, with assistance delivered through an award scheme and its complementary, dedicated funding stream.
Open to primaries, secondaries, and local authorities – who are encouraged to submit project bids benefitting multiple schools – participating schools are paired with experienced assessors, who help them develop action plans to improve bike parking facilities, cycle training and promotion and communication of cycling events.
Following a revision of the application process, 2022-23 saw increased participation from schools, with 117 primaries and 58 secondary schools registering to the award. 101 schools were funded through the programme in 2022-23, a 274% increase on the previous year.
Social Housing Partnership Fund – Excellence in Walking, Public Ream, Cycling
Cycling Scotland’s Social Housing Partnership Fund is a finalist in the ‘Increasing Access to Active Travel’ category, recognising the programme’s impact in working to reduce barriers to active travel for residents in social housing.
A lack of safe, secure, accessible and conveniently located cycle storage remains one of the biggest barriers to owning and using a bike. Independent research commissioned by Cycling Scotland has found that more than one third of people living in Scotland don’t have a secure place to store their bike at home, with almost half (46%) of social housing residents unlikely to have somewhere suitable to store a bike.
In an effort to tackle this, since 2021, the fund has awarded £1,064,000 across 34 projects and 105 sites in Scotland, with over 13,000 households benefiting from new secure storage and bike parking facilities.
Adult Cycle Training – Excellence in Walking, Public Realm, Cycling
Trialled as a grant funding pilot during the Covid-19 pandemic, when people were increasingly keen to take up cycling or return to cycling, the Adult Cycling Training programme supports Cycling Scotland-approved trainers to deliver adult cycle training sessions across Scotland. This includes training for complete beginners, confidence-building sessions, training for families and cargo bike riders.
Grant funding has enabled 797 people (an increase of 383% from 2019-20) to develop their confidence and skills, including 69 families. 66% of adults participating in training were female, with research indicating that women on bikes are currently underrepresented. Two-thirds of all sessions were ‘Absolute Beginner’ sessions, effectively teaching an adult to learn how to ride a bike.