Dundee Cycling Report Card - Some Good Progress But We Must Try Harder

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A recent national report on Cycling in Scotland assessed the polices of each of the 32 local councils in Scotland. This assessment awarded the City Council an average score of two and a half stars from five. The summary report card is pictured. 

The Council's performance is rated as slightly stronger on 'Planning' and 'Monitoring' and relatively weaker on 'Action'. In fact the two star rating for 'Action' is the Council's lowest score.

The 1% modal share for cycling shows by implication that there is an enormous gulf between this performance and the target from the Scottish Government of 10% of short journeys by bike by 2020 to help meet carbon reduction targets.

Also significant and particularly disappointing are the very low scores of children cycling to school and those undertaking a Bikeabilty Scotland course, which is the replacement for the Cycling Proficiency Test that I tokk when I was at school. I don't think we can anticipate a significant future lift in cycling in our city if only two or three of our Primary Schools undertake this award.

More encouraging is the score for 'Households with Access to A Bicycle' at 23%. This shows that there are plenty of households with a bike who, with the right infrastructure and support, might be encouraged to get back on the saddle and ride their bikes rather than take short journeys in their cars. That would be good for the environment and personal health.

I will be raising the issues raised in this report with the Head of Transportation and the Director of Education.

 Read or Download the National Assessment Of Local Authority Cycling Policy