This coming Saturday, 28 April, local residents are set to gather in Liverpool before pedalling across the city to the Pier Head, where incoming council candidates will give their pledges to improve the city’s cycling facilities.
The event is led by Merseyside Cycling Campaign and is one of twelve events taking place ahead of the local elections as part of Cycling UK’s ‘Vote Bike’ campaign. Tom Guha, Cycling UK’s Infrastructure Campaigner, said: “That at so many people are taking to the streets to demonstrate support for cycling shows that cycling is electorally popular. Hopefully candidates will listen and, if successful, act to encourage the growth of healthier, happier and more active places.”
Derek Gould, of Cycling UK Merseyside said: “Cycling is the most natural, economical, health-giving and environmentally friendly way to travel at speed around our cities. Yet our streets are congested by motor vehicles, creating a perception that cycling must be risky. In truth, cycling with a knowledge of how our streets work in our favour is pretty safe and endows the cyclist with a hard-to-achieve level of fitness. Considering that every bike is also one less polluting car in the traffic jam, cycling can work for us all.”