New technology boost for walking and cycling development in Greater Manchester

New video analytics sensors will be deployed across Greater Manchester to help the planning and development of future walking and cycling schemes.

A new contract has been awarded to Vivacity Labs to provide the new technology that will help support the city-region’s investment into active travel infrastructure.

Around 100 new sensor installations are currently planned across the region, with further installations expected as the region’s cycling and walking infrastructure programme continues to be rolled out.

The sensors, alongside a new data platform, will provide a significant increase in Transport for Greater Manchester’s cycling and walking monitoring capabilities. Data provided will help to monitor signal times at crossings and help better understand how people are getting around across the city’s ten boroughs. Currently TfGM has 82 piezo-electric sensor-based automatic cycle counters (with only 17 of these counting people walking) across the city-region.

TfGM Programme Director for Cycling and Walking, Richard Nickson, said:

“Giving as many people as possible access to convenient, safe and enjoyable forms of active travel will help us to build on the increases in walking and cycling we have seen during the pandemic.

“We’ve already made great progress this year in delivering the UK’s largest cycling and walking network and have many more schemes in the pipeline as we look to give people a genuine alternative to the car, reduce congestion and help improve air quality.

“By enhancing our monitoring capabilities, we can more effectively measure the success of this substantial investment and better understand the use of active travel modes across the region to inform our long-term strategy and delivery.”