The Scottish Parliament Transport, Infrastructure & Climate Change Committee carried out an inquiry into active travel in Scotland between September 2009 and January 2010. The report of this inquiry has now been published with the conclusion that:

“The Committee believes that active travel has huge potential to benefit the health of the people of Scotland as well as contributing to meeting Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets. Yet it is still very much a minority pursuit in Scotland. Attitudes to active travel will only change if walking and cycling are viewed as safe and convenient alternatives to other transport modes. The Committee has recommended in this report a variety of measures which could increase participation in walking and cycling, including improvements to infrastructure and a new nationally co-ordinated cycle training scheme.

The challenge will be to implement these initiatives in practice. The Scottish Government has set a target of 10 per cent modal share for cycling. However the Committee believes that this target will be meaningless if the Scottish Government fails to match its stated ambition with a realistic level of funding. The Committee therefore recommends ambitious increases in resources with robust mechanisms established to ensure that these are carefully targeted and effective. Stronger, more effective and sustained leadership is required from the Scottish Government in order to implement improvements to walking and cycling policies in Scotland”.

Click on this link for the Parliamentary Report of the Inquiry into Active Travel.