A project worth over £3million has been instigated in the UK city of Nottingham to encourage university students and staff to cycle and walk more.
The Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University are the targets of the two year plan, which is being led by sustainable transport charity Sustrans in conjunction with Nottingham City Council and Cycling England.
The £3million will be spent on:
- New cycle routes and other facilities
- Investment in bike hire and cycle training
- Information on cycling
- Financial incentives including discounts at cycle stores
Sustrans regional director Yvonne Gilligan said: "There is an enormous potential to improve the health of staff and students – and reduce traffic congestion around universities – by encouraging them to walk or cycle more of their everyday trips.
"Students in Nottingham, as in most university towns and cities, live in close proximity to where they study so there is usually no need to rely on cars to get about. Nottingham is also fortunate to have forward thinking councils, universities and a hospital trust within the strongly supportive Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership plus a good deal of cycle infrastructure already in place."
Cycling England's Chairman Phillip Darnton said he hoped the initiative would "help people overcome the barriers to getting on their bikes, as well as creating innovative solutions to encourage existing cyclists to use two wheels as often as possible."
Although some of the UK's university towns - notably Oxford and Cambridge - are famous for the numbers of students using bicycles as their main mode of transport, this is not the case with many other such towns around the country.
For more information, visit sustrans.org.uk.
