Cycling
Cycling is the second simplest form of Active Travel.
It is best done using safe cycling infrastructure, these are often cycle paths. These segregate cyclists from other motorised road traffic and also from pedestrians.
Cycling can change the way people get about, especially for short trips.
Every driver that switches a car trip to cycling is removing one more car from the road, reducing carbon emissions (unless they have a battery electric vehicle), reducing other pollution and improving their own physical and mental health. It has been shown that cyclists spend more money when shopping than drivers, because they usually make more shopping trips.
Cycling also offers options for businesses.
Cycle to work schemes exist where employees can purchase bikes tax free via salary sacrifice scheme.
Employees cycling to work are usually more productive especially in the first hour of work than employees that drive, because they are less stressed out when they arrive.
Electric cargo bikes though, offer the option for more efficient last mile delivery than using a van or truck. As Sudbury gains a cycling network of cycle paths your local deliveries may well be faster and more efficiently done by e-cargo bike than by van. In South London Sainsbury's are using them for home deliveries, whilst the London baes Pedal me is due to double in size in 2022 and does dray deliveries for breweries.
Replacing a car parking space for your business with cycle racks will also reduce your Business Rates.
Infrastructure
Cycling needs to be safe though. There is currently almost zero safe cycle routes in the area, there are some cycle paths but they never join up to form a safe cycling route from a start point to a destination.
The government has started to fund investment in this infrastructure, not to anything like sufficient levels of investment necessary nationally as every organisation from Sustrans and Cycling UK to the IPCC highlights and COP26 completely ignored cycling and walking as climate change mitigation measures, probably under pressure from the car industry.
Sudbury could have a network of safe, all-weather cycle routes to allow people to cycle to work, school, shops and other destinations, but whilst a consultation in 2021 identified the required routes, it relies on political will and public support and pressure on these politicians to make cycling a safe, usable alternative to the car.
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Further information
It is widely recognised that cycling is the most easily accessible form of carbon zero transportation.
It burns nothing but the energy of the cyclist.
It is used by both the able-bodied and disabled as a primary form of transportation.
If we can make Sudbury and the surrounding area safer to cycle in, then there is a good chance that a proportion of the 55% of car trips of less than 3 miles can be done by bicycle. This both reduces traffic congestion, traffic pollution, reduces carbon emissions, improves the physical and mental health of those cycling and thus saves the NHS money and there is a growing body of evidence that cycling increases spending in Town Centres.