Sustrans ‘doubles London school cycling levels’

New figures from a survey of eight and a half thousand children from London educational facilities have revealed a significant rise in the number of kids cycling to school.

According to the survey, 1,400 kids are regular commuters to and from school, while the percentage of kids ‘never cycling to school’ dipped from 83 to 67 per cent. Pupils riding their bike outside of the school journey increased from 26% to 32%.

Jo Hill, education programme manager for Sustrans London commented: “The London Bike It Plus Schools programme has once again more than doubled cycling in the schools we work with.

“With the programme set to expand into even more London boroughs and schools next year, we’re looking forward to seeing more happy and healthy families cycling in 2014.”

Over the past seven years Sustrans has worked in 23 London boroughs with 250 primary and secondary schools. The borough of greenwich returned the most promising results, with a 31.5 per cent increase year-on-year in kids going to school by bike.

Roxane Hackwood, Sustrans School Bike It officer for Greenwich noted: “I had plenty of support from the Greenwich Borough Road Safety Team, which made a huge difference to the effectiveness of my work.

“Success for me is more than just delivering good bike training and events; it’s about changing a school’s transport culture, creating lasting change.’