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The final statistics from the three week-long Big Pedal competition are in, and this year it was bigger than ever.
Run by Sustrans and funded by bicycle industry levy Bike Hub, The Big Pedal 2012 saw 890,304 cycle journeys made, smashing last year’s 606,919 journeys.
The average number of journeys made per day by bike during the competition was 59,354, with 21 per cent of the school roll cycling in (rising to 25 per cent on the final day of the competition).
The government and concerned motorists will be pleased to note that the competition saved petrol – to the tune of an estimated £368,484.83 – and saved around 1,520,100 car journeys.
The winning schools, for Big Pedal 2012, in each category are:
Small primary: Leswalt School (Stranraer)
Large primary: Oakhurst Community Primary School (Swindon)
Secondary: Aboyne Academy (Aberdeenshire)
And the runners up:
Small primary: Pontrhydyfen Primary (Port Talbot)
Large primary: Paulton Junior School (Bristol)
Secondary: Chessbrook Centre (Watford)
Sustrans has compiled a list of stats from this year’s competition:
Total distance of child journeys to school – 1,140,075 miles/1,881,124 km
Number of journeys multiplied by average distance of journey to school for 5-10 year olds (1.5 miles/2.5 km)
Number of car journeys saved – 1,520,100
Assumes all journeys to school are return trips which would otherwise have been made by car, and each child journey to school represents 1 car (NTS average car occupancy for education trips is 2)
Total distance of car journeys saved – 2,280,150 miles/3,762,248 km
Number of car journeys saved multiplied by average distance of journey to school for 5-10 year olds (above)
Equivalent number of cars removed – 271
Based on total distance of car journeys saved divided by an average annual mileage of 8,420 (NTS)
Total fuel saved – 59,021 gallons
Based on the total distance of car journeys saved (miles) divided by miles per gallon for an average UK car (39mpg)
Cost of total fuel saved – £368,484.83
Based on average prices for petrol in AA Fuel Price Report for February 2012 and total fuel saved
Cost of total fuel savings for the school year – £2,947,878.62
Based on cycling levels during the Big Pedal being maintained over a whole school year and all journeys cycled being return trips which would otherwise have been made by car
Total CO2 saved – 746 tonnes
Based on average CO2 produced per car per mile (DEFRA & DECC)
Olympic swimming pools of CO2 saved – 560
4 tonnes of CO2 = 3 olympic size swimming pools
Millennium Domes of CO2 saved – 0.5, or 51 per cent
Millennium dome = 1,100 olympic swimming pools
Gherkins of CO2 saved – 1
Gherkin = 360,000 cubic metres
