Providing for cycling and walking cheaper than more public transport

Spending on public transport is a conspicuous and attractive way to tackle the problems caused by the growth in car use. But the costs per mile for public transport provision is far higher than that for cycling and walking.

More of the current objectives of public policy on environmental protection, energy saving, health promotion, car use reduction, getting best value for money - and, not least, limiting ecological damage from climate change - would be furthered by giving pride of place both in rural and urban areas to cycling and walking - well before public transport.

Postscript from a report in The Times (June 8th '95) by Jonathan Prynn:

The government spends less than £10 million a year on cycling, 0.16% of its £6 billion budget. Spending on cycling is likely to rise sharply. Steven Norris, junior Transport Minister, has told MPs that he intends to put cycling 'at the centre of our strategy'. He pointed out that only 2.5% of journeys in Britain were by cycle, compared with a European average of 15%; and in Denmark cyclists were ten times safer than in Britain.