Cardiff council will on thursday set out its plan for a massive increase in cycle-routes and lanes for commuters.
Motorists will be discouraged to drive into the city with priority being given to pedal cycles and public transport.
The City of Cardiff Council’s Cabinet will be asked to agree the Cycling Strategy on Thursday, 19 January and a public consultation exercise will then begin on delivering the City Council’s vision of creating a safer, greener and healthier city.
The City Council hopes half of commuters in the city will get out of their cars and onto public transport, or will take up cycling or walking to work by 2021 with a target of 60% for 2026.
Cllr Ramesh Patel, Cabinet Member for Planning, Transport and Sustainability said, “Cardiff is the perfect city for cycling and walking. It is relatively flat and compact and the opportunities to grow cycling here are huge. There’s little doubt that there are too many cars on our roads and as the city grows our roads can’t support more and more vehicles. This is why we will be investing to make other forms of transport – like cycling – more attractive to residents, visitors and commuters.
“We have been working closely with Andreas Røhl and Allison Dutoit from Gehl Architects on our cycling strategy. Andreas was Director of the City of Copenhagen’s Bicycle Programme from 2007 to 2015 and has unique knowledge on promoting cycling. During Andreas’ tenure, cycling in Copenhagen rose to its highest level in more than 50 years.
“Allison is a Liveable City Advisor, who has a proven track record in making cities more desirable places to live. She specialises in helping cities create people-friendly public spaces.”
In 2005 in Cardiff, only 4.3% of commuters travelled to work by bike and now 9.2% are cycling to work. The strategy sets out how Cardiff intends to double this figure again to over 18% by 2026 and make room for an extra 38,000 cycle trips per day.
He added, “Research shows us that 52% of car trips made in the Welsh Capital are less than 5km. This is a distance that can be comfortably cycled in 20 minutes.
“We also know that 28% of Cardiff residents that currently do not cycle would like to do so. When the roads are congested this makes cycling an even more attractive option as travel by bicycle would be quicker than a car during rush hours.”
Some 80,000 commuters come into Cardiff from outside the city to work every day and about 64,000 commuters do so by car. This means Cardiff will have to work with neighbouring authorities and the wider region to put solutions in place for this commuter traffic.