More than half of adults living in England’s major cities would support higher spending on safe cycle routes, a survey has found.
A YouGov poll of 959 people living in urban areas on behalf of Sustrans has found 54% would back higher spending on safer routes for cyclists even if this meant lower spending on measures that would benefit other road users such as building new highways.
Almost half of respondents said they would be likely to cycle more often if cycle lanes were separated from traffic on busy roads. This was true for 58% of respondents in Manchester, 53% in Bristol, 52% in Newcastle and half in Leeds and London.
Some 80% of those polled said they would back introduction of more safe cycling routes, with residents in Manchester and Bristol showing the strongest support.
Just under half of those surveyed supported reducing or maintaining a 20mph limit in urban and residential areas, with 58% of people in both London and Newcastle backing the controversial measure.
Some 44% of respondents said that they didn’t cycle more because of the dangerous local roads, while 40% did not own a bicycle. Only 4% of respondents living in cities said that they cycled every day, with Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol holding the highest proportion of daily cyclists (7%).
An additional YouGov poll of 2,025 adults from across Great Britain found 55% support government investment in cycling.
Almost a third said they would be more likely to travel by bike if cycle lanes were separated from motorists on busy roads, while 36% saying that they didn’t cycle more because it is too dangerous.
