Lack of pedal power has held back some of last year’s poorest-performing local transport plan authorities, despite some impressive results in the latest annual progress reports.
The final batch of first-round APRs, which cover the full 2001-06 plan period, reveal disappointing performance against core cycling targets at both Bristol and Hertfordshire, although Luton, in a last-minute spurt, is now on track to achieve its target for cycling trip growth.
Bristol and its immediate neighbours saw a sizeable 26% increase in cycling – against the national trend – but are no longer on course to meet their 30% target. Only South Gloucestershire has achieved its goal, with a 28% increase. Acknowledging the failure, the authorities argue that narrowly missing such an ambitious target is better than achieving an easy one.
Despite growth in bus use, they also fell 2.5M passengers short of their bus patronage target and are making slow progress in Bristol and Bath & North-East Somerset in cutting road casualties. This may be partly due to under-reporting in the 1990s, putting the baseline up to 40% lower than it should be, they suggest.
Hertfordshire, which last year offered ‘no clear evidence’ on cycling progress, now admits it is not on track, but says it is moving in the right direction after revising its target in 2004-05 for a more modest 20% increase in trips by 2016. However, while performing well on other core targets except bus patronage, the county has slipped further against local indicators, with only 15 of 37 now on track.
For two-wheelers, better news comes from Luton which has seen an upturn in cycling over the past year, interpreted as a direct result of investment in cycling.
No significant change against core indicators is reported by fellow poor performers Milton Keynes, Plymouth and – last year’s worst-scorer – Windsor & Maidenhead but Plymouth has made good progress.