A housing development to the North of Ellon needed more connectivity to the town. A survey revealed a high demand for a new path to be constructed in the area. Twenty-five percent of residents suggested they would use active travel more frequently if infrastructure were available to use, and eighty-one percent said a new route via Caroline Wells Woods would encourage them to choose active travel more regularly. Respondents said their top purposes would be for recreation (375 returns), to visit the shops (361 returns), and to visit friends (261 returns). Travelling to school was marked 96 times, and commuting to work 57 times indicated that locals intend to use the path for social and utility journeys and that it would have a smaller impact on those commuting to school and work.

Ellon is part of Aberdeenshire Council’s Integrated Travel Town project, where there have already been many active travel infrastructure improvements and soft measures to encourage behaviour change, such as the riverside path and the Formartine and Buchan Way upgrades, to encourage more active travel and make the town more connected. This additional critical link to the housing development is 206m long, with a gradient of less than 5% (a design requirement for all wheeled users), and 3 metres wide throughout. It has provided a suitable route for wheelchairs, pedestrians, and cyclists to visit the town centre in a quicker, shorter, and more accessible manner.

Edinburgh Council has recently completed the construction of a new cycleway, which forms part of the National Cycle Network (NCN) route 1. The cycleway will connect with other active routes planned around the city, including the George Street and First New Town project and Meadows to George Street as part of the Edinburgh City Centre Transformation.

The project initially faced controversy due to the reallocation of road space away from private cars and the perceived negative impacts on parking, congestion, and retail, particularly in areas like Roseburn. In response, the council introduced the Rejuvenating Roseburn initiative, focusing on community cohesion benefits, such as a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the new public realm space at Old Colt Bridge and Dr Bike sessions outside the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel. The level of support was high, with 49% of respondents in favour and 11% opposed.

The scheme offers comprehensive provisions, including segregated cycleways, improved pedestrian and cycle crossings, upgraded drainage, enhanced street lighting, cyclist and pedestrian priority at key junctions, contra-flow cycle provision on one-way streets, raised tables at side road crossings, new cycle parking facilities, removal of redundant street furniture, carriageway resurfacing, amendments to on-street parking, wider pavements, dropped kerb crossings, and continuous footways with raised tables over side roads.

New landscaped areas, including trees, grassed areas, and benches, have been added, providing more space for people to sit and spend time and encouraging visits to some of Edinburgh’s outside spaces. Cycle counts and monitoring are ongoing, with no statistical evidence available yet. However, the successful delivery of such an ambitious and high-quality scheme in the face of opposition warrants recognition.

Funded by Transport Scotland, Cycling Scotland’s project aimed to increase affordable access to bikes for children and young people, support independent travel, reduce inequalities, and improve health by working with local partner organisations to provide them with bikes. By providing access to bikes, young people across Scotland can overcome challenges that prevent them from reaching services and facilities and travelling independently.

In the project’s first year, Cycling Scotland received applications from 29 organisations and provided grants to 24 of them across 25 local authorities. More than 1,000 bikes have been purchased or upcycled, with a further 1,300 bikes to follow. Bikes are given to young people through parents/carers or loaned out as part of a share/bike library scheme, benefiting more than 3,200 young people aged 5 to 17.

Much of the evidence to judge the project’s success is qualitative rather than quantitative, with transformational stories behind every bike gifted. For example, Kids Come First, a charity-run childcare facility in Fife, received funding to provide young people in Ballingry with bikes to ensure that no child in Ballingry will be embarrassed that they don’t have simple and life-changing access to bikes, the same as their friends. Young Scot is undertaking a more rigorous evaluation, with feedback detailing young people cycling to school, getting exercise, and building confidence.

Ng Homes is a social housing provider responsible for 5,400 homes for rent, a nomination supported by Cycling Scotland. Social housing across Springburn, Balornock, Possilpark, and Parkhouse areas of Glasgow face many socio-economic challenges and high levels of deprivation. Less than half of households have access to a car, and walking and cycling rates are comparatively low.

Analysis and community consultation highlighted limited access to bikes and storage, a lack of cycling infrastructure, and a lack of cycling skills as barriers to more people travelling by bicycle. In response, ng homes implemented an active travel strategy to support tenants by providing suitable secure cycle storage. Thirty secure cycle storage units, providing 150 spaces, have been installed across its stock, initially focused on high-rise and tenement stock at no additional cost to users. Over 3,000 households now benefit from having somewhere safe and secure to store their bikes.

The strategy has also delivered affordable access to bicycles by recycling abandoned and donated bikes, which are refurbished at community cycling hubs. By working with HMP Barlinnie, they are distributed to tenants identified by housing officers across Glasgow who do not have access to a bike and would benefit most. More than 140 bikes have been refurbished for distribution.

Finally, the strategy has delivered cycle training and bike maintenance sessions to tenants to help increase their confidence and knowledge. Twelve ‘Dr Bike’ maintenance sessions out of a new Active Travel Hub, provided by partners ‘On Bikes’, have proved hugely successful, with over 120 bikes serviced. Weekly led rides provide opportunities to gain confidence for vulnerable groups and a series of pilot sessions to engage with ‘early years’ children to help them learn to ride using a fleet of balance bikes. The weekly sessions have been full, seeing over 120 attendances, with 30% of attendees gaining competence in riding a pedal bike and being offered a refurbished bike as part of the ‘renew’ scheme.

Dundee and Angus councils have collaborated to obtain funding through Sustrans/Transport Scotland’s “Places for Everyone” programme to improve active travel along the National Cycle Network Route 1 along the coastline between Broughty Ferry Castle and Monifieth. The scheme is in the final stages of creating a continuous, off-road walking and cycling route. So far, alongside a carriageway of 3.2km of shared-use path, 86 cycle stands, and 104 benches have been installed. A widened beachfront esplanade with accessible (ramped) beach access has also been delivered using locally sourced natural stone walling and paving.

Two kilometres of footway have been reconstructed and realigned, reducing road space and prioritising access travel. Narrow (1m wide) and inaccessible bridges have been replaced with a 5m wide active travel bridge over the Dighty Burn. Seventeen artworks, improvements and installations of several beach access points, and planting of 48 trees and 3.8Ha of native grassland and wildflower meadow, including dune restoration, have been carried out.

Comparative data is yet to be available for the project as the main works at the Dighty to Monifieth were only completed in November 2023. However, early signs of monitoring via Sustrans-installed VivaCity Smart Traffic Monitoring cameras show a significant increase in usage by pedestrians and cyclists, even over one of the wettest winter periods since 1836.

The Sighthill Footbridge provides an essential link across the M8 to the City centre. With 800 new homes identified for Sighthill, Glasgow Council wanted a ‘gateway’ bridge connecting them to the city and surrounding outdoor recreation spaces. The bridge had already been categorised as inadequate and unsafe, with pedestrians from the south required to walk along a worn cobbled road frequently crowded with illegally parked cars. Given the proximity of buildings, most of the road and the south ramp was a darkened area away from view. Neither was the bridge accessible to wheelchair users, difficult for prams and required cyclists to dismount for crossing.

Again, from the north side, pedestrians and cyclists were met with a wooded area dimly lit & away from the public view. As part of the council’s regeneration plans, the bridge was demolished and replaced with a more comprehensive, higher and more visually appealing weathering steel bridge. It incorporates an hourglass shape to create a welcoming approach and provides a granite walkway that is 5m wide at its thinnest, with an additional one metre of soft landscaping vegetation on both sides separating the public from the motorway noise. The Council successfully purchased and demolished sections of the adjacent warehouse to allow for a more well-lit and exposed area. With a safer, more compliant, and aesthetically pleasing landmark structure now in place, the bridge has seen a 172% increase in cyclists and a 65% increase in pedestrians using it to access the city centre.

Completed in June 2023, phases 6 and 7 of Glasgow’s East City Way (ECW) delivered an additional 2.5km of cycle infrastructure that seamlessly links Glasgow Green and the city centre with the east end of Glasgow. Developed collaboratively with Traffic colleagues and significant stakeholders such as Celtic, the ECW provides a fully segregated route between the city and cultural destinations such as the Emirates Arena and Celtic Park. The project also delivers improvements for pedestrians with footways resurfaced, pedestrian guardrails removed, and pedestrian crossings upgraded.

Before the construction of the ECW, road space was reallocated under the Spaces for People programme, which reallocated 50% of the carriageway to cyclists. This was the baseline for long stretches of uninterrupted hard segregation for the ECW. This has reduced the speed of vehicles, making the route more appealing to pedestrians and cyclists. The route consists of five junctions, all containing cycle-activated detectors to allow for cycle-only phases, permitting safe access through these often busy junctions. Shortened crossing points and times for pedestrians at the Clyde Gateway junction and a protected “cyclops” junction for cyclists, deemed the largest junction to receive this treatment in the UK, have also been delivered.

An additional 800m2 of soft landscaping and greenery was introduced to enhance the public realm. Phases 6 and 7 were completed in time for the UCI World Cycling Championships in 2023, which saw the Emirates Arena host many events. In the first three months of operation (Jul – Sept 2023), the new route has had 24,061 cycle journeys, representing a 318% increase in pre-construction cycle use. Cyclists can now reach Celtic Park and Emirates Arena from the city centre in 20 minutes, which is likely to reduce journeys by car to the popular attraction.

HITRANS’s cycle hire scheme HI-BIKE has been operational since 2021, initially starting with three docking stations, four virtual docks, and 30 bikes in Inverness. By 2022, the scheme expanded to 6 docks and 50 bikes. However, in spring 2023, the scheme faced closure as the operator, Canadian bikeshare company Bewegen, declared bankruptcy. HI-TRANS stepped in and took over operations, saving the scheme from closure. The transition involved HI-TRANS staff quickly learning to operate an eBike share scheme, managing everything from back-office I.T. to bike redistribution, maintenance, customer service, and bike share technology.

The scheme was temporarily closed for only one week while the sim cards accounts were updated. HI-TRANS promptly contracted an external mechanic to maintain the bikes and the scheme, helping to retain some of the former company’s employees who had lost their jobs. Plans are underway to expand the scheme within Inverness and install docks further afield to Elgin. HI-BIKE is the only publicly owned and operated eBike share scheme in the U.K.

As of January 2024, nearly 1000 regular users have purchased 2700 recurring memberships, with 12,000 single-use users purchasing either a 3-hour pass or a pay-per-ride pass. Since its launch, this equates to almost 13,000 individual users of the HI-BIKE scheme. The scheme has facilitated 220,000 km of travel, saving over 40,000 kilograms of CO2 compared to car travel.

Users have shown confidence in the system’s longevity, as there has been a steady increase in membership purchases. Comparing 2022 to 2023, from May to Sept 2022, 210 monthly passes were purchased, while from May to Sept 2023, 419 monthly passes were purchased. HITRANS has maintained low costs, with users paying as little as £1.55 a week for an annual pass for unlimited rides and a 24-hour service. They also offer free, equal opportunities to those who need it. This success story demonstrates a real passion and commitment to providing active travel opportunities for all.

The Stirling station project involved a comprehensive redesign of the public realm outside the station, establishing a pedestrianised plaza to enhance access for pedestrians, wheelchair users, and cyclists. This included removing the roundabout on Goosecroft Road and replacing it with a new entrance to the south car park, streamlining the parking process, improving traffic flow, and creating a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists.

Two blue badge parking bays were created at the entrance of the north car park, increasing the number of accessible parking bays at the station to ten. A secure CyclePoint, providing more than 140 cycle spaces, expanded the total number of cycle spaces at the station to over 200, including dedicated spaces for non-standard bikes such as bikes with child seats and cargo bikes – a first for a station in Scotland.

The station project collaborated with Sustrans and Stirling Council’s “Walk, Cycle, Live Stirling” scheme to ensure that key corridors leading to the station, such as those to the University and the city centre to Forth Valley College, were also transformed. The taxi rank was relocated to a new location between the bus station and railway station, making it more accessible for all public transport users and the station entrance car-free.

Proposals were shaped by discussions with stakeholders and public engagement. They delivered an enhanced public realm area, including planters and seating. A road was removed from the immediate station entrance to create safe pedestrian – and cycle-friendly areas. The scheme has established a comprehensive regional transport hub and a gateway to the area, making rail and bus services more accessible and attractive.