It’s Bike Week! But what does this have to do with a carsharing company? 🚲

We’re called Liftshare, and obviously we promote shared journeys by car; but that’s not all we do!

We also provide end-to-end personal travel plans for lots of business’ employees, so that when they set out to get to and from work, or on business road trips, they can see all of their travel options laid out next to each other. That could include driving, liftsharing, taking public transport, walking and cycling; as well as park and ride, and cycle and ride options. And in the spirit of Bike Week 2016, we have some good insights on cycling to share with blog readers.

So what have we learnt about cycling since working with myPTP (my Personal Travel Plans)?

Over the last two years, 66,974 people have received a personal travel plan from us, and 29,211 (44%) of these have included a suitable cycling option. We limit a cycling suggestion to journeys under 12 miles, so as to keep it a realistic, sustainable option.

The average distance of a suitable journey by bike was 9858 metres, so just under 10k (6.2 miles), and would take 37.5 mins to ride.

But how does this compare with national statistics on cycling?

The British Social Attitudes Survey showed that 66% of people never cycle – but our figures suggest that an extra 10% could be, if 44% of journeys really do have a suitable cycling option.

According to the Government’s National Travel Survey, only 43% of the population have access to a bike, so there could be up to 13% of people for whom cycling is an option, but they don’t have access to the necessary equipment to do so.

Cycling accounts for just 2% of journeys nationwide; yet another 42% of trips could be achieved this way, which is huge unused cycling potential

The average length of a trip by bike is just 3.1 miles. As our suggested trip length averaged double that, this could indicate that we’re just not considering cycling when we could be – or perhaps we’re picking transport methods that simply use less of our energy.

Only 2.8% of British workers cycle to work according to the census, but this number is growing all the time.

How can we encourage more people to travel sustainably?

First off, make sure that people are informed about their travel choices. They may not know about bike paths on their route, or of other people offering spare seats going their way. myPTP can deliver personal travel plans to give choice across different modes of transport.

Secondly, get involved with Bike Week! You can download banners, posters, and a fundraising pack from the Bike Week website, and start encouraging your friends and colleagues to hop on their bikes for the week… even if it’s just for part of their journey.

Author Lex Barber

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