MINISTER ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR VULNERABLE ROAD USERS’ CAMPAIGN AT SCOTLAND’S FIRST RAIL CYCLE HUB

PRESS RELEASE

MINISTER ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR VULNERABLE ROAD USERS’ CAMPAIGN AT SCOTLAND’S FIRST RAIL CYCLE HUB

A campaign to boost road safety by cutting conflict between cyclists and motorists has been awarded £424,000 by Transport Scotland.

Transport Minister Keith Brown announced the additional funding for Cycling Scotland’s Mutual Respect Campaign at the opening of Scotland’s first Rail Cycle Hub at Stirling Railway Station.

The campaign will be launched in August to help create a culture of mutual respect between cyclists, pedestrians, motorists and other road users across the country.

Transport Minister Keith Brown said:

“Scotland has its lowest road casualty figures since records began, however the level of cyclist and pedestrian casualties is still too high. I have allocated additional funds to Cycling Scotland to develop and run a substantial long-term media and educational campaign to help change behaviour on our roads.

“The Scottish Government is providing significant investment for the infrastructure needed to support active travel across Scotland, in both urban and rural areas, as an essential contribution to the partnership endeavour required across the public sector, with local authorities in particular playing a highly important role.

“I am delighted to make this announcement at the opening of Scotland’s first Rail Cycle Hub this morning. The Cycle Hub Team will provide support and expert knowledge on local routes and networks and local visitor attractions. Hopefully this will be the first of many cycle hubs across Scotland and will encourage more people to get on their bikes.”

The Stirling Cycle Hub is funded by Transport Scotland, in partnership with ScotRail and will be managed by Forth Environment Link.

Steve Montgomery, ScotRail’s managing director, said:

"The Stirling Cycle Hub is an exciting project aimed at encouraging more people to get on their bikes, and we are delighted to support it. We're committed to improving facilities for cyclists using Scotland's railways - and are currently installing more than 200 extra cycle spaces at stations across the network."

Ian Aitken, chief executive of Cycling Scotland said:

“I am delighted that the Scottish Government has allocated additional funding to Cycling Scotland for this awareness campaign. We will be working with partners from the cycling, motoring, pedestrian and road haulage sectors to create a campaign that helps to make the roads safer and friendlier. The campaign will be talking to all road users, and looking at ways we can all make small changes to our behaviour to make Scotland’s roads a more harmonious place.”

Jane Cullingworth, executive director of Forth Environment Link said:

“We are thrilled to be opening the Cycle Hub. The hub will be a key community resource – not just for those already cycling but for the many people out there who have bikes gathering dust or who have never thought of getting on a bike. We hope that the hub will inspire people to get cycling and we welcome people to come by this weekend for our launch.”

Ends

Notes to editors

Mutual Respect Campaign

Both the Cycle Hub and the Mutual Respect Campaign will contribute to the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland’s vision that by 2020, 10% of all journeys will be made by bike. If successful, the Cycle Hub could be rolled out across the country in areas where there is a demand for cycle facilities.

The Scottish Government has allocated up to £200,000 to Forth Environment Link over three financial years to set up and run the first ever Rail Cycle Hub facility in Scotland at Stirling Station, as a three year pilot project. Services will include information and signposting to cycle services, and detailed route planning. The hub team will work with local communities to encourage and promote cycling. Alongside the hub will be secure cycle parking and lockers,. The Cycle Hub will enable better integration between train services and cycling. It will provide a one stop shop for visitors and residents looking for information about cycling and other attractions. There will be on-going customer surveys so as demand grows the facilities offered will evolve over the three year pilot period.

This project is an excellent example of partnership working involving Transport Scotland, ScotRail, Stirling Council, Creative Stirling, the University of Stirling, Sustrans and Cycle Stirling.

Creative Stirling will have a desk within the Cycle Hub to provide information for visitors and travellers arriving in Stirling, complementary and relevant to the services of the Cycle Hub and relative to the broader cultural context on offer in Stirling. Creative Stirling will also sell tickets for local events including their own.

Stirling was chosen as the pilot site due to the willingness of local partners to develop the project. It is the seventh busiest station in Scotland, and provides a cross-segmentation of users including commuters into Edinburgh and Glasgow, university students, NHS staff and tourists (the latter expected to be high for the 2014 Bannockburn celebrations and the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles).

Cycling Scotland currently runs an annual media and educational campaign called “Give Me Cycle Space”. The campaign is delivered in tandem with schools receiving Bikeability Scotland training to ensure children have the road skills and confidence to cycle and drivers are being asked to look out for them and give them space and consideration when passing.
Cycling Scotland has recently developed the next step of the campaign in partnership with Transport Scotland. The additional assistance from TS has enabled the campaign to be developed into one that will encourage mutual respect amongst all road users, emphasising the principle that road safety is everyone’s responsibility, as well as making the campaign more substantial.

Cycling and the Road Safety Framework

Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020 recognises that cyclists are among the most vulnerable road users. Relevant Framework Commitments are:

Continue to support the use of school travel plans, fully involving the local community, through grant to the Sustrans School Run Team and cycle training resources from Cycling Scotland and education resources provided by Road Safety Scotland.
Ensure that all road users receive appropriate education and training messages about safer cycling in the road environment, including journeys to and from school and in residential areas.
Continue to monitor and develop Bikeability Scotland resources for dissemination to Road Safety Units and others responsible for co-ordinating Bikeability Scotland, the three level cycle training programme for school children.
Encourage the wearing of correctly fitted helmets by cyclists.
Ensure cyclists are considered in new road and maintenance schemes.

Transport Scotland is the Scottish Government’s national transport agency responsible for aviation, bus, freight and taxi policy; coordinating the National Transport Strategy for Scotland; ferries, ports and harbours; impartial travel services; liaising with regional transport partnerships, including monitoring of funding; local roads policy; major public transport projects; national concessionary travel schemes; rail and trunk road networks; sustainable transport, road safety and accessibility, and the Blue Badge Scheme. Transport Scotland is an Executive agency accountable to Scottish Ministers. http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/

Contact Caroline Trainer at Press Transport Scotland on 07715 107 556