PROGRAMME LAUNCHED TO GET STUDENTS ON THEIR BIKES

Schools & colleges across Greater Manchester are to receive cycle infrastructure improvements as part of £20 million scheme launched this week that will see one million pounds spent on cycling facilities at schools & colleges across Greater Manchester to encourage more students to get on their bikes.

The Better By Cycle Partner Schools Programme will see Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) working with 11 schools and colleges to develop cycling infrastructure in and around the partner schools, including improvements to cycle lanes and increasing secure parking where they are needed.

Pictured: Cllr Chris Paul – Member and Cycling Champion of the TfGM Committee, Karen Carter – TfGM Cycling & Walking Officer, Dave Newton – TfGM Transport Strategy Director and Steve Taylor – Lead Professional at Manchester Communication Academy during the school’s launch event

TfGM will also offer guidance, training and continued support for each of the schools taking part, which is part of a wider programme to bring about a cultural shift to increase cycling.

The programme is funded by Greater Manchester’s Cycle City Ambition Grant, provided by the Department for Transport (DfT). The £20 million grant was awarded last year as part of a national funding scheme to provide increased and improved cycling infrastructure to a number of cities. An additional amount of funding will be provided through Local Sustainable Transport Funding.

The Partner Schools Programme is part of TfGM’s Better By Cycle initiative, a wider cycling strategy which works towards continuing the increase in cycling whilst also achieving greater levels of sustainable transport into and around Greater Manchester.

In addition to the improvements at the partner schools, Better By Cycle will also involve the development of a network of cycle routes that are fit for purpose, as well as providing improvements to facilities that better connects districts to encourage people to travel by bike.

Councillor Chris Paul, Member and Cycling Champion of the TfGM Committee, said:

“Cycling is great. Great for fitness and great for the family budget. It reduces congestion, and it’s sustainable. We aim to change Greater Manchester’s travel culture and increase cycling from 2% to 10% of journeys over the next ten years.

“Getting young people aged between 11 and 18 cycling through the Partner Schools Programme is an investment in our future.”

Martyn Bratt, Technology Projects Manager at Xaverian College in Manchester, said:

“The funding being made available by TFGM is essential to providing more secure bicycle storage facilities and promoting the positive health and environmental benefits of commuting to college by bicycle or on foot.

“It will also allow us to run classes educating the basic maintenance techniques necessary to keep a bicycle road worthy, whilst allowing the procurement of additional equipment to develop cycling as an extra-curricular activity.”

Learn more about TfGM’s ambitions for cycling in Greater Manchester by visiting www.tfgm.com/cycling.