Bike Week took place 10 – 16 June and is the UK’s biggest awareness-raising event of the year for cycling. This year’s theme, #BeABikeHero was actively supported by Transport for the North (TfN), both within our Strategic Transport Plan (STP) and by our colleagues.
Our STP is an ambitious plan for sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the North, enabled by transformational connectivity. The plan recognises an inclusive transport system in the North requires significant improvements in conditions to encourage cycling. Car-dominated environments and community severance currently contribute to social exclusion through limiting access to opportunities, key services, and community life.
Through rethinking local connectivity to provide safer active travel infrastructure, reduce severance and increase access to opportunities, cycling forms a key component of the North’s transport system. Active Travel also enables wider health and wellbeing benefits, decarbonising transport and enhancing social inclusion.
In our Active Travel Policy Position, we identify several actions that support our partners to achieve their objectives, while also outlining how TfN can work with national government to enable active travel.
When it comes to active travel TfN leads by example, encouraging more of its workforce to walk or cycle to work. Measures include encouraging colleagues to use bike storage facilities at its offices as well as promoting a scheme that allows employees to spread the cost of buying a new bike – initiatives that are in line with TfN’s overall health and wellbeing strategy.
The promotion of cycling within TfN, enables colleagues to champion the values and vision set out in our Strategic Transport Plan, helps increase workforce productivity and improve their carbon footprint – for our communities, it means a reduction in road congestion and better air quality.
As every journey involves a road at some point, our highways need to be reliable, resilient, safe as well as be conducive to public transport and active travel options. By focusing on the outcomes we need for people and places, as outlined in our Strategic Transport Plan, working together across boundaries and securing the investment needed, we can transform the North.
