Cycle to Work Gets a Boost

More cyclists than ever are getting on a bike to travel to work  - as the use of the car has fallen, official figures reveal.

Numbers using sustainable transport have risen for the first time in decades with cycling and public transport use increasing in London and major cities.

The Cycle to Work Alliance, the umbrella group promoting the Cycle to Work scheme, report a 25% increase in uptake in the past year with 44,000 people signing up in the first six months of 2013 as the UK bike boom, buoyed by Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome’s triumphs continues.

The launch of Cycle To Work Day on Thursday 12th September coincides with the latest figures from Halfords and other providers showing an all-time high in people taking advantage of the tax friendly Cycle To Work schemes. To mark the day Halfords is offering FREE bike safety checks, a FREE puncture repair kit and 20% off selected cycle accessories for all cyclists calling at its Bikehut stores on the day.

Overall more than half a million people have now joined the Cycle To Work scheme which provides employees with a tax free loan saving of up to 42% on the cost of a bike.

Halfords Keith Scott said: “The latest figures provide continuing evidence of the increasing desire of the UK population to integrate cycling into their daily commuting routine.

“We are also seeing more people than ever cycling regularly, whether as a leisure activity, as a way of getting fit, or to commute to work and avoid rising transport costs. The recent Government decision to increase spending on cycling will also encourage more onto the roads.

“We plan to be at the forefront of helping more people get on their bikes and are providing free bike safety checks at our stores on Cycle To Work Day. We are also offering a 20% discount on selected cycling accessories.”

New research on the growing popularity of the bike as a means of travelling to work has been carried out by Dr Anna Goodman, Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who used data from the 2011 census to find out how our daily commute has changed over recent decades.

While most of Wales, the Midlands and North England are as reliant as ever on using their cars for the daily commute the overall use of cars has dropped by nearly 2% in the last ten years, the study reveals.

The number of people cycling to work in 2011 was highest across Greater London. The capital has now overtaken South East England as the highest cycling region of England and Wales, with increased cycling levels in 29 out of 33 boroughs.

There were also notable rises in cycling - Cambridge (32.6%, up 4.2%), Bristol (8.2%, up 3.3%), and Oxford (19.1%, up 2.8%). Overall, 3.1% of all journeys to work were made on bicycle across England and Wales.

Dr Goodman said: “Cycling to work in England and Wales has only risen overall by a very small amount, but even this is something to celebrate as cycling had been steadily declining across the previous four censuses. London in particular has seen an impressive increase in the proportion of people opting to cycle to work. Most interestingly, we are starting to see more affluent people cycling to work, which bucks the trend of the wealthiest usually being in their cars while those less well-off walk, cycle or use public transport.”

Across England and Wales, 67.1% of people used their car, van or motorcycle as their usual main commute mode, a decrease of 1.8% since 2001. The southern regions saw the greatest declines in commuting by car, with a particularly large decrease in Greater London (32.2% of all commuters used private motorised transport in 2011, down by 8.8% since 2001).

Ends

Notes to editors:

This offer excludes Halfords stores in ROI

The cycle to work initiative is a tax-efficient, and on the whole, salary-sacrificed employee benefit that provides a way of encouraging more adults to take up cycling. Introduced in the 1999 Finance Act, the scheme encourages employers to loan bicycles and cycling safety equipment to employees as a tax-exempt benefit for the purpose of cycling to work. Under the scheme, employers buy cycling equipment from suppliers approved by their scheme administrator, and hire it to their employees whom are able to access savings of up to 42% off the price of the bike. At the end of the loan period, the employer may choose to give the employee the option to purchase the equipment.

The Group is the UK's leading retailer of automotive, leisure and cycling products and through Halfords Autocentres also one of the UK's leading independent car servicing and repair operator. Halfords customers shop at more than 460 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland and at halfords.com for pick-up at their local store or direct home delivery. Halfords Autocentres operates from more than 280 sites nationally and offers motorists dealership-quality MOTs, repairs and car servicing at affordable prices.

Halfords employs approximately 12,000 staff and sells around 10,000 product lines in stores, increasing to around 16,000 lines online. The product offering encompasses significant ranges in car parts, cycles, in-car technology, child seats, roof boxes, outdoor leisure and camping equipment. Halfords own brands include the in-store Bikehut department, for cycles and cycling accessories, Apollo and Carrera cycles and exclusive UK distribution rights of the premium-ranged Boardman cycles and accessories. In outdoor leisure, we sell a premium range of camping equipment, branded URBAN Escape. Halfords offers customers expert advice and a fitting service called "wefit" for car parts, child seats, satellite navigation and in-car entertainment systems, and a "werepair" service for cycles.