Pedal on Parliament is a grassroots volunteer-led campaign pushing for better, safer and more inclusive cycling conditions for everyone of all ages and abilities in Scotland. We run a weekend of action aimed at policy makers, asking for better investment, design and policy for sustainable transport. 

The Pedal On Parliament manifesto asks politicians to agree to:

• Proper funding for active travel – starting at 10% of the transport budget and rising to 20% by the end of the parliamentary term.
• Design cycling for all ages and abilities into Scotland’s roads.
• Implement and enforce safer speeds where people live, work and play.

Join us as we call for a cycle-friendly Scotland. More details will be posted on the Pedal On Parliament website and socials.

The ‘Joint Active Travel Manifesto for 2026’ calls for parties to commit to multi-year budgets, link public transport and improve road safety, in order to build on ongoing success and bring the benefits of walking/wheeling and cycling to more people.

From helping to reduce Scotland’s carbon emissions to improving public health and supporting local economies, the manifesto highlights some of the many benefits that active travel brings, calling on parties to pledge to support five key commitments:

1. Investment: provide long term investment to transform our local high streets and communities, committing at least 10% of the transport budget to active travel funding.

2. Long-term commitment: Multi-year budgets to accelerate delivery of national strategies on walking, wheeling and cycling, offer better value for money and give more people access to active travel, regardless of income and background.

3. Infrastructure: Transform our communities, enabling anyone, especially younger people – to travel more safely on foot, by wheeling or by bike. Including through well maintained, accessible networks of walking or cycling routes and reorganised streetspace, creating better, greener local places.

4. Link active and public transport: Integrate walking and cycling infrastructure with public transport in rural areas especially, providing alternatives to the car. Reducing congestion for all and effortlessly linking longer journeys.

5. Safety: Reduce road danger by lowering traffic speeds in our communities, by taking dangerous drivers off the road and by creating more accessible streets for all: implementing the pavement parking ban, reinforcing the new Highway Code and making welcoming spaces everyone can use and enjoy.

Increased national investment in active travel was supported by all major parties at the 2021 Holyrood election, and has led to impressive increases in walking, wheeling and cycling where projects have been delivered, Sadly, it’s not all good news as 12 people are killed or seriously injured while walking, wheeling or cycling every week in Scotland and more action is needed to keep people safe and reduce danger at source. [1]

The Scottish Government’s 2026 budget has set out increased funding for active travel and bus infrastructure over the next four years – an extremely welcome development that will help to create safer streets, healthier communities, and support more thriving local economies. The Joint Active Travel Manifesto calls on all political parties to commit to sustaining and building on this investment into the long term.

Devi Sridhar is Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and author of ‘How Not to Die Too Soon’. In support of the manifesto, Professor Sridhar said: “A move towards active travel isn’t about banning cars, but rather increasing options and freedoms for people to choose how they want to go to school, work or city centre, whether it’s walking, cycling or public transport. Getting people moving in theirdaily life should be a high priority for governments given that sedentary behaviour is a majorrisk factor for chronic disease such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke and dementia. Exercise also contributes at a cellular level to better mental health.

“Scotland has made positive steps in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go tocatch up with major European cities who have built active travel into urban design.”

Rose Marie Burke and John Newman, the parents of Emma Burke Newman who was killed while cycling in Glasgow City Centre in 2023, said: “Emma loved to cycle through her world, including her beloved Scotland. Unfortunately, careless driving and poor infrastructure took her away from us. Despite progress, let’s keep up the hard work to recognise and address the real issues in plain sight.”

Kay Corbett, owner of Outline Hair in the centre of Edinburgh, has supported customers to travel by bike by providing cycle parking inside her salon, and has advocated for further improvements for walking, wheeling and cycling on local shopping streets. Kay said: “I’m lucky enough to have my commute to work pass through Holyrood Park, and seeing the changing seasons in the park, and wildlife up close every day is unreal, you really couldn’t convince me there’s a better way to travel. The safer and more enjoyable an experience we can make it is the best way to encourage people to make the leap onto a bike.

“I can do all I like to encourage cycling to my business, talking to clients about biking, providing bike parking in the salon, but the biggest concern my staff and customers have is safety. The want to cycle is there. The issues remain clear that cycle lanes aren’t city wide yet.”

Jason Corbett, owner of Insider Tattoo, said as a small business owner: “I need to get about, my customers need to get about so the more people using active travel the more swiftly, safely and cleanly we will all move. It will give us both physical and mental health benefits and a cleaner environment for the future.”

The full manifesto for active travel, with list of all signatories, is available here

Notes

[1] https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/reported-road-casualties-scotland-2023/table-23-reported-casualties-by-mode-of-transport-and-severity/

Don’t be fooled by common myths about cycling – use the explanations on the site to help spread the truth!

The site has been created in order to collate all the facts and arguments about cycling for transport. While there are a great many blogs, articles and videos explaining these concepts, they can often be difficult to keep track of and link to.

If you’re a cycle campaigner, you’ll probably have come up against the same old arguments time and time again. There are many myths about cycling, which are widespread and often believed, without any basis in fact. So the site hopes to make it easier for cycle campaigners to win the argument by providing a quick response to these myths.

This site has been made possible due to the hard work of volunteers, and with support from the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain.

Meet at The People’s Palace on Glasgow Green at 2:30pm and the ride begins at 3:00pm. All ages, all welcome. Mark your calendars and spread the word!

Whether you’re coming with family, friends, or simply care about making our streets safer and more inclusive – this ride is for you! This is a day to come together, have fun, and pedal for a better future.

Source: Facebook Sunny Cycles

Parents and children from Shawlands Bike Bus and campaigners from GoBike have presented a jumbo “Thank You” card to staff at a bike lane consultation in Pollokshaws Burgh Hall.

Glasgow City Council is consulting on an ambitious plan to build 57km of new bike lanes in the Inner North and South of the city. This is the first phase of the planned 270km City Network of safe active travel routes.

“We started our bike bus because our children can’t safely cycle to school without it. Some people have described a bike bus as a human bike lane and it works well, but it is dependent on the voluntary efforts of many people and can also be difficult for some to access. What we need is a proper network of cycle lanes that are accessible to everyone, including school children, at all times. From the plans we’ve seen to date the city network looks really promising so we wanted to come and pay our appreciation to the design team.”
Parent, Shawlands Bike Bus

“We’re extremely excited about the ambition of the council’s plans. Cities like London and Paris are showing that when cycling is safe, it becomes one of the most popular forms of transport. A city-wide cycle network will give the people of Glasgow access to a cheap, healthy form of transport. It will help the city get to net zero. And because bikes are so space-efficient, it will even improve congestion.”
Spokesperson, GoBike

Cycling has been growing rapidly in Glasgow as new cycle lanes have been built. Crowds of cyclists are now a common site on the South City Way at rush hour, and a survey found that more than 1 in 4 vehicles on Victoria Road are now bicycles.

Glasgow City Council describes the City Network as providing “an accessible, safe, coherent and direct active travel network across Glasgow. To be delivered by 2031, the City Network will connect key amenities and drivers of travel such as education, business, retail and culture.”

Our ask to you

The consultation is open till October 20. Please check out the plans for the Inner North and South networks and complete the short consultation.

About the organisations:

Shawlands Bike Bus is a group of parents and children who cycle together to Shawlands Primary School. It is a part of the rapidly-growing global bike bus movement. It is equipped with an “Ultra Smart Cycle System” that allows the bike bus leader to temporarily control the traffic lights at Shawlands Cross – this won ‘Exemplary Approach to Active Travel and Public Space’ at the National Transport Awards in 2023.

GoBike is a campaign for safe cycling infrastructure across Strathclyde. Originally founded in the 1980s, the all-volunteer group has recently had success securing cycle lanes on Glasgow’s Byres Road.

This years AGM will take place at 10:30am on Saturday 3 June 2023 at the Pearce Institute, 840-860 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 3UU 

We are gathering during Volunteers Week (1 – 7 June) so join us to celebrate all the achievements that GoBike volunteers have made over the past few years!

It is free to attend and it would be great if you could book your place via Eventbrite. And please take a few minutes to have your say on our campaign review too.

If you’d be interested in joining the committee please email convenor (at) gobike.org.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

GoBike Committee

10:30am on Saturday 3 June 2023 

at the Pearce Institute, 840-860 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 3UU 

The AGM which has been slightly delayed since November last year will be a great opportunity for members and others to hear what GoBike has been up to over the past couple of years and importantly have your input into what GoBike should be focusing on over the next few years.

Agenda

• 1015 – Arrival
• 1030 – Annual General Meeting
• Welcome and apologies
• Approve minutes of 2021 AGM
• Treasurer’s report, approval accounts and member fees
• Convenors report
• Election of committee
• Close AGM
• 1100 – Campaigning discussion
• Feedback from campaigning review
• Breakout discussion groups
• Feedback from groups
• 1220 – lunch
• 1300 – close

Committee

If you’d be interested in putting yourself forward for the committee we would love to have you join us to help plan and make campaign decisions. Please email convenor (at) gobike.org.

Booking and attendance

The AGM is free to attend but it would be appreciated if you could book your place via Eventbrite letting us know if you have any dietary and/or accessibility requirements.

If you are unable to attend it would be appreciated if you could send an apologies email to convenor (at) gobike.org

Papers

The previous minutes and the accounts will be sent out to people who have booked in advance of the AGM 

Campaigning review

GoBike is undertaking a review of what our campaigns should be focusing on over the next few years. It would be appreciated if you could take a few minutes to tell us your thoughts

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

GoBike Committee

In light of this incident, GoBike have sent a communication to the council in a spirit of mutual understanding and in the hope that we can safeguard vision zero as a shared priority in our city, for Emma and for all those like her. We will update you when we receive a response.

As a group of prior caretakers of the campaign, we hope you don’t mind us contacting you to see whether you might be able to give some time to GoBike.

We have no one actively running GoBike. The volunteers who have helped run this campaign over the last many, many years have gradually stepped back to the point where we now have no caretaker group running the campaign. We are currently in the position where we don’t have anyone to lead / chair, or to keep communications going to and from and within the campaign. Similarly, we don’t have anyone to carry out the treasurer’s role. 

Both of these roles are essential to a campaign with paid membership, and one with a good communications channel with the council and other related organisations. We have a great team keeping our consultations section ticking over, and we still have our monthly rides on the go.  However, we also need help with our social media, with campaign ideas and their organisation, and with other admin tasks.

Do you think you can help?

Up until now GoBike has run with a committee of a number of people spreading the load of the campaign tasks between them. They met around 6 times a year, every two months, and in between kept in touch via a channel on slack. This set up doesn’t have to continue – anyone able to offer their help can meet to decide how they wish to continue the running of the campaign. As past committee members we will support new caretakers in a handover period.

If you do think that you can give some time please get in touch with us by email at this link or via campaigns @ gobike.org

We will gather together any offers of help and then plan to hold an Extra General Meeting towards the end of March (keep your eyes peeled for dates), where we as members will come together to decide the future of the campaign. 

Active travel funding is increasing so campaigns like GoBike are needed more than ever to ensure the money is spent wisely. Over the years we have worked successfully at moving active travel up the agenda in new council projects. We still need to ensure that pressure is there to keep that being the case, and to ensure that the designs of new projects meet current standards and that they ensure the safety of people cycling.

Giving what time you can to GoBike will help to keep people cycling that little bit safer, it might help open up cycling to those who don’t yet dare, you’ll make good like-minded friends and believe it or not, it can even be a lot of fun!

If you do think you would like to get more involved or want to know more about how you might be able to help do drop us an email at this link or via campaigns @ gobike.org

The machinery of government has been churning out the consultations at a frightening rate but thankfully, when viewed as a whole, they all hang together well and are, in general, moving Scotland in a positive direction. Much of what we see in the consultations on NPF4, STPR2 and the new Route Map are all driving (pardon the pun) towards meeting climate targets and enabling cycling and active travel.

These consultations package up many of the same policies and commitments, which, when developed, could enable and encourage people to cycle, walk or wheel rather than jumping in the car. These positive motivators to change the nation’s behaviour, or ‘carrots’, are plentiful but they need to be developed by government and grown by local councils.

As we gear up to the local elections we should bear in mind that many councils aren’t as bought into this agenda as they need to be. The pre-election period is therefore a huge opportunity to tell councils, Councillors, parties and candidates that the future is one with low-carbon transport and that they need to get behind the government initiatives. Councils are the ones who will deliver much of this at the local level so its time for them to step up.

This week we also had news of Minister for Transport Graeme Dey’s resignation because of ill health. We wish him well and a speedy recovery. Jenny Gilruth MSP has been moved within the Scottish Government to take up this important post. Congratulations to her.

One of the jobs for the new Transport Minister will be to get her head around all the live consultations – just like the rest of us!

Section 1: Current Consultations

(in date order for responses)

1.1: Scottish Government – NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy 2022 to 2026 – draft

The Scottish Government and NHS Assure have developed a draft Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy 2022 to 2026 for NHS Scotland.

I haven’t looked through this yet but there must be opportunities to suggest how active travel can be part of this strategy. Comments should be returned on the template in the supporting documents by email.

Closes 10 February 2022

1.2: Scottish Government – Investing in Scotland’s Future: Resource Spending Review Framework

I will look at this consultation in more detail next month. However, whilst the recent budget announcement of £150m for active travel this year is a substantial increase it was below what was hoped for. Therefore, we need to argue for a big boost to funding in the next budget at the end of this year – £235m would be appropriate in order to get Scotland on a straight line trajectory to £320m in 2024/25. I’m not sure how far ahead the Spending Review looks but obviously, we don’t want funding to plateau at £320m – we need to argue for growth to continue.

Closes 27 March 2022

1.3: Scottish Government – Draft National Planning Framework 4

The NPF4 is a major document setting out the direction for national planning policy and national developments for the next decades. The fourth NPF is focussed on meeting the net-zero target and supporting the nature restoration and recovery – good progress from NPF3.

Overall its a positive document aiming to drive planning and national developments towards addressing the climate emergency.

The big news for cycling is the inclusion of a National Cycling, Walking and Wheeling Network as a National Development, important because this designation as a national development gives it high status. There’s also more detail on creating 20 minute neighbourhoods.

Also relevant to Glasgow is a ‘Clyde Mission’ national development. However, there’s not a great deal of detail on these proposed policies.

I will look into this consultation and provide more suggestions for responses next month

Closes 31 March 2022

1.4: Transport Scotland – 20% Reduction in Car Km Route Map 

The long-awaited Route Map has been published setting out Government’s plans to achieve the target from the updated Climate Change Plan which committed Scotland to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030.

Its a first time in the UK that a government has targeted demand management in this way. Wales has set up a review of its road building programme in light of the Climate Emergency – many argue that Transport Scotland should also put a halt to road building, such as increasing capacity on the A9 and A96.

The Route Map includes more than 30 interventions aiming to achieve the target but all of these are recycled policies – there’s nothing new.

In my blog post for Cycling UK I also argue that there need to be more ‘sticks’ to directly disincentivise driving. There are lots of positive ‘carrots’ providing alternatives to driving but they all need developing. There’s also analysis in this twitter thread.

Closes 6 April 2022

1.5: Transport Scotland – Strategic Transport Projects Review – STPR2

Hot on the heels of the Route Map came the STPR2 consultation. This is the 2nd part of the STPR2 consultation with Part 1, which featured in National Digest 5, outlining some of the policies already being developed, e.g. Active Freeways.

As with NPF4, STPR2 is focussed at creating infrastructure for the coming decades which will help Scotland to decarbonise transport and meet climate emission reduction targets. This is positive and a change from the first STPR which was notable for locking in high carbon infrastructure such as motorway building and the Queensferry Bridge.

However, STPR2 still has big projects – creating a network of cycle lanes is a big job – but different in that they will be delivered by multiple actors.

Closes 15 April 2022

Section 2: Forthcoming Consultations

I’m not aware of any more consultations to come. There have been so many recently I’m hoping for time to work on the ones above!

Section 3: Consultation Feedback

None this month