Two schemes that aim to broaden the appeal of cycling to embrace both elderly and prospective riders shared top honours on Monday at an event to showcase active travel initiatives.

 

The ‘Side by Side’ cycle scheme – where an older person and younger rider sit shoulder to shoulder on a two person bike – and a bicycle ambassador programme in the west of England were both crowned winners at the University College London active travel and health event.

 

Pictured is David Dansky from not for profit cycling promoter Cycle Training and Paula McGivern from Herefordshire Council, either side of competition judge Stephen Joseph from the Campaign for Better Transport.

 

The Side by Side scheme has been introduced as an active alternative to the ‘dial a ride’ service to provide transport for the less able. Volunteers are trained to pick people up and ride alongside them. The older traveller can choose whether to pedal or not and the side by side cycles will, it is planned, be sited close to sheltered housing estates.

 

“We want to encourage older people to move around actively,” said David Dansky. “I am really pleased this idea has some traction.”

 

Herefordshire Council’s bicycle ambassador programme hopes to create cycle friendly communities and promote the values of respect and friendship among those on two wheels.

 

Ambassadors are encouraged to wear a pin badge to show their support and the council’s initiative is led by sustainable transport officer Paula McGivern.

 

Both winning entries to the competition – which took the form of ‘Dragon’s Den’ type pitches – will now work with professionals from University College London’s Transport Institute to develop their concepts further.

 

Dr Nicola Christie of UCL said that one of the aims of the Transport Institute’s competition is to provide support to emerging research projects and help them to engage with policy makers.

 

Steer Davies Gleave’s head of insight Tony Duckenfield, who had the idea for the competition, said: “We all enjoyed two hours of concentrated thinking at the event and good feedback was given to the finalists.”

 

The event was judged by the Campaign for Better Transport’s executive director Stephen Joseph, Transport for London transport planner Lucy Saunders and Stockport Council’s director of public health Steve Watkins.

 

Other entries to the completion included a scheme in Hounslow that allows children to challenge their peers to walk to school, rather than be driven by car. Pupils from 60 schools across the borough will from this September be issued with smart cards that are used to touch as many as 160 on street readers to register their movements by foot, awarding pupils points for every journey taken.

 

Another entrant, Dermot Hanney from Jacobs, has produced a cycle map for London that highlights key route corridors in very much the style of an Underground map.

 

And researcher Gus Bosehans from the University of Bath is taking forward a project around the concept of a ‘cycle train’ to encourage people to ride bicycles in groups though large cities, helping to reduce the perceived risk of cycling and to foster a greater sense of identity among participants.