| If you're looking for a cycle friendly city the newest | | | | available, how many independant bike shops are in |
| review by Cycling Plus magazine will surely be | | | | the city, the volume of people who use bikes to |
| interesting to you. From twenty of the largest cities | | | | commute, levels of pollution, the quality of the roads |
| and towns in the UK the inquiry established that | | | | where cycle paths are not available and the incidence |
| Bristol was the most bike-friendly. This conclusion | | | | of bike theft. |
| was without doubt aided by the £22.8m grant | | | | Bristol beat the competition on the number of cyclists |
| Bristol received after being named as the first 'Cycling | | | | and bike shops, better control of pollution and the |
| City' in the UK by the Department for Transport in | | | | number of its traffic free cycle paths, still local Bristol |
| June 2008. | | | | bikers are not completely happy with the speed of |
| This grant was given to persuade more individuals to | | | | progress, thinking it still too slow. Bristol presently has |
| benefit from using cycles in Bristol by developing the | | | | a plan to create sixteen cycle routes in and around |
| infrastructure and has already provided a bike path | | | | the city, all funded by the Cycling City grant, and |
| next to the outer city ringroad, amongst other | | | | development has started on a 4 mile pathway to |
| infrastructure improvements. Altogether £100m was | | | | give a secure cycle network between the |
| provided to develop cycling in the country, other | | | | neighboring villages with the city. |
| cities to obtain funding were Cambridge, Colchester, | | | | |
| Leighton Buzzard, York, Stoke, Blackpool, Chester, | | | | Bristol is also home to Sustrans. Sustrans is |
| Southend, Shrewsbury, Southport and Woking. | | | | committed to expanding sustainable transport and to |
| The study did not include several of the cities | | | | encouraging people to choose kinds of transport |
| normally connected with bike riding, like Cambridge | | | | that benefit both their health and the environment. |
| and York, since these are not among the biggest 20 | | | | Amongst additional sources of income, including |
| UK cities by number of residents. Bradford came last | | | | support from the Consortium of Bicycle Retailers, the |
| in the survey, London was only just ahead in 17th | | | | Bicycle Association and the Association of Cycle |
| place, and Manchester was fourth. | | | | Traders, financial support from the Millennium |
| The survey included 9 areas of significance to cyclists | | | | Commission helped them to build the first 5000 miles |
| and voters were asked to rate the cities in the study | | | | of the National Cycle Network. |
| on each area. These categories included | | | | . |
| considerations like how many miles of cycle paths are | | | | |