There’s a nice piece of work by Sustrans and the Depart for Transport that busts this myth. Here’s how Sustrans (who are funding the Spott Dunbar Project) put it:
There is good quality evidence provided by the Bike Life survey that there is public support for investment in cycling, particularly for infrastructure that separates bicycles from other traffic and pedestrians. These results are supported by a 2017/18 government statistic in Northern Ireland, the Continuous Household Survey, showing that people are more dissatisfied with the provision for cycling than any other form of transport. High quality evidence from a survey of 400 cycling stakeholders in England shows that lack of funding and lack of political leadership are far greater perceived barriers to investment than public opposition.
Further down the report they find that lack of funding and lack of leadership are much bigger barriers to investment in cycling than lack of public support:
Only a third of respondents said that public opposition was one of the top three barriers, compared to 67% who said funding was one of the top three barriers and 60% who said leadership. Only 7% of stakeholders said that public opposition was the top barrier to investment in cycling. This study shows that public opposition is unlikely to be the main barrier for a proposed scheme.
Interesting too that businesses are among the least likely barriers to investment. So what do ordinary folk tend to be concerned about?
| Response | All respondents (%) |
| No cycle lanes | 69 |
| Too much traffic | 42 |
| Traffic goes too fast | 41 |
| Personal safety – I don’t feel safe cycling | 34 |
| Roads are too narrow | 32 |
| Poor street provision for cyclists / Unable to cycle on the street | 26 |
| There are no safe places to cycle such as greenways or parks | 25 |
| Poor quality cycle lanes | 21 |
Why are you not satisfied with the current situation for cycling and cyclists in your local area at present? (Source: NISRA, 2018)
But is this what concerns you?
We will consulting the public on proposals so far for the Spott Dunbar connection in the very near future, so we wanting to open up the conversation.
Leave a comment on this website or head over to our dedicated facebook page.