Cycle Culture

On other cycling sites there has been some discussion lately about whether or not developing high quality Dutch-style infrastructure would be enough, on it's own, to get people on bikes to use these facilities. Or would they remain unused (like many example of “bad” infrastructure nationally) because Britain doesn't have the type of bike culture that exists in Holland today or 30-40 years ago when they began to develop their infrastructure. Some contributors even felt Dutch-style infrastructure would mean cyclists would lose their right to cycle everywhere, and be “second class citizens” compared to motorists. Mmmm. I think many, if not the overwhelming majority of people who ride cycles in the UK (or would like to) probably feel that way now with current road infrastructure. Whereas if you were to ask Dutch if people if they felt “second class” because of their facilities, or couldn't go everywhere they want to go on a bike, I think their reply might be just the opposite. Particularly in the centre of Amsterdam and other towns and cities where only pedestrians and people on bikes can go. 

The UK did have a thriving cycle culture right up to the second world war and the years immediately following it. For example, my local city, Hull, was known as "cycle city" prior to the war, and still has a relatively healthy utility cycling culture today (11% of journeys in urban areas, compared with the UK average of 2%) with some reasonably high-quality infrastructure (as well as some bad). Cambridge and York are other examples today. With more and more motor traffic and the loss of what high-quality infrastructure that existed in the UK (yes, there was some), cycling rates declined, as people's wealth increased, aspired to owning a motor car, and their perception of feeling safe riding in motor traffic reduced.

This debate seems to crystallise into different models of cycling i.e. utilitarian, everyday transportation cycling, and that more influenced by sport. There will always be those cyclists who want to preserve their “right to ride” on the road no matter what infrastructure is developed in the future. If people want to ride on busy roads as per the vehicular cycling model, that should be our right and their choice. But I also think that many more will vote with their wheels for high quality Dutch-style infrastructure (“the real deal”) when they realise how safe they can feel and convenient it can be. This has already started with petrol prices rising, and will continue as the naysayers realise that all the arguments why Dutch-style cycling won’t work in the UK are shown to be false.

Rather than making cyclists “second class citizens”, if anything, Dutch-style infrastructure has done more for equality and made cycling more inclusive for people of all ages and both genders, rather than the males up to the age of 50 whom are the main advocates and practitioners of vehicular-cycling.