Active Travel Benefits

The recent COVID-19 restrictions have profoundly impacted the way people live, work and travel as evidenced by the public’s desire to be more active, and the rise in popularity of cycling and walking (Sport England, 2020). A change in travel behaviour and an increase in active travel can transform permanently how many people move around, particularly in towns and cities.

Despite fewer people travelling overall during the recent pandemic, there has been around a 100% increase in weekday cycling and on some weekends that increase has been around 200%. More people choosing Active Travel can result in:

Healthier, happier and greener communities

Peoples’ health and quality of life can be improved by more people choosing to walk and cycle. This would result in the number of short journeys made by car being vastly reduced and people from all parts of our communities being able to enjoy the benefits of cleaner, healthier, safer and quieter streets.

Safer Streets

We would like to see a time when nobody is afraid to cycle, every child feels confident and safe whilst walking or cycling to school and all road users treat each other with mutual respect.

Convenient and Accessible Travel

Cycling and walking are recognised as the most convenient, desirable and affordable way to travel in our local areas. Sefton undertake several schemes and improvements to our network each year with active travel now being a major consideration when designing the schemes.