Bristol Named as The Most Bike-Friendly City in the UK
If you're interested in a bike friendly town the most recent survey by Cycling Plus monthly will definitely be relevant to you. Out of twenty of the largest cities and towns in the UK the survey found that Bristol is the most bike-friendly. This conclusion was certainly helped by the 22.8 million pounds Bristol was given subsequent to being designated as the first "Cycling City" in the country by the Department of Transport in June 2008.
This financial support was provided to encourage more individuals to use bikes in the city by upgrading the transportation network and has previously funded a bicycle path beside the outer city ringroad, together with other transportation network improvements. In all 100 million pounds was awarded to develop cycling in the UK, other cities to obtain a grant were Cambridge, Colchester, Leighton Buzzard, York, Stoke, Blackpool, Chester, Southend, Shrewsbury, Southport and Woking.
The study excluded a number of the towns usually associated with bike riding, like York and Cambridge, because these do not qualify as the biggest twenty UK cities by number of residents. Bradford came last in the survey, London was only just ahead in 17th place, and Manchester was fourth.
The survey listed 9 classes of significance to cyclists and asked people to judge the cities in the study on all nine categories. The categories included factors such as the number of miles of cycle paths available, how many independant cycle shops available, the number of residents using cycles to commute, how high the pollution levels are, the standards of the roads in areas where cycle paths are not provided and the rate of bike theft.
Bristol won on the number of bike riders and cycle shops, lower pollution and the coverage of its traffic free cycle paths, yet local Bristol bikers are not entirely pleased with the speed of improvement, thinking it still too slow. Bristol at present has a project for sixteen cycle pathways throughout the city, each one paid for by the Cycling City money, and work has started on a four mile cycle route to give a secure cycle network between the surrounding villages with Bristol.
Bristol is in addition home to Sustrans. Sustrans is dedicated to developing sustainable transport and to encouraging people to choose kinds of transport that benefit both their health and the environment. Amongst additional grants, including support from the Bicycle Association, the Association of Cycle Traders and the Consortium of Bicycle Retailers, grants from the Millennium Commission helped them to build the first 5000 miles of the National Cycle Network.
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