Steveb
March 20-2006, 11:15 AM
How long is the average journey? Not very long for the majority it seems, being that on average the typical Northern Ireland resident pedals about 17 miles a year according to a recent survey, based on face-to-face interviews and personal travel diaries in around 1,000 Ulster households. But it's not all bad news, according to recent figures cycle use in NI has grown massively in recent years.
Since 2000 cycle use has increased by 45% in the Greater Belfast area compared to a more modest 13% across the whole province. The figures were gained from 33 cycle counters located across various locations in NI, with 9 in the Greater Belfast area and 14 on the National Cycle Network. Which itself saw an increase of 34% across it's 700 miles of routes, with plans to extend this to 1,000 miles by 2008.
Sustrans Northern Ireland manager Steven Patterson said there were encouraging indications in the sustainable transport charity's own research, suggesting that the new cycle routes were helping meet the targets set by the Northern Ireland Cycling Strategy to quadruple the number of trips made by bike by 2015.
"In research carried out by Sustrans, the picture looks bright. Half of all cyclists surveyed were cycling more than they were a year ago," he said.
Since 2000 cycle use has increased by 45% in the Greater Belfast area compared to a more modest 13% across the whole province. The figures were gained from 33 cycle counters located across various locations in NI, with 9 in the Greater Belfast area and 14 on the National Cycle Network. Which itself saw an increase of 34% across it's 700 miles of routes, with plans to extend this to 1,000 miles by 2008.
Sustrans Northern Ireland manager Steven Patterson said there were encouraging indications in the sustainable transport charity's own research, suggesting that the new cycle routes were helping meet the targets set by the Northern Ireland Cycling Strategy to quadruple the number of trips made by bike by 2015.
"In research carried out by Sustrans, the picture looks bright. Half of all cyclists surveyed were cycling more than they were a year ago," he said.