With the escalating cost of fuel, an increasing number of people are turning to cycling, and walking as cost effective way to travel for shorter journeys.
Take a look at our advice below if you’re thinking of changing at least some of your shorter journeys to active travel. From saving money and doing your bit to reduce pollution, to boosting your health and wellbeing – there are lots of reasons to choose active travel over driving.
Cycling
More and more people are choosing cycling as a way to commute to work or make those shorter journeys. According to Department of Transport Statistics 71% of all journeys made in England in 2020 were fewer than five miles, which is a distance many people could cycle comfortably.
A recent article from Cycling UK lays out the cost benefits of cycling, looking at the yearly costs of cycling compared to driving. Although they recognise that replacing your car with a bike is not practical for most people, by cycling for short journeys rather than driving, and perhaps having one car instead of two in your household, you can make significant savings. If you drive to work and have to pay daily parking costs, cycling can save you even more money. Follow the link to take a look at the full article:
Cycle to work scheme
If you plan to use cycling to commute to work, you can ask your employer if they are signed up to the cycle to work scheme. The Cycle to Work scheme is designed to help you save money on a new work bike, allowing you to spread the cost of a new bike over a period of tax free instalments.
Find out more about the cycle to work scheme
Commuting advice
Your ability to cycle to work, or with your children to school might be affected by cycling infrastructure (or the lack of) and worries about busy roads. However, if you don’t cycle regularly there may be safer routes available to your destination, that you aren’t aware of – speak to a colleague or friend who regularly travels by bike or take a look at this journey planner on the Cycling UK website.
Sustrans have lots of helpful advice and guidance on their website to support cyclists new to commuting, including this blog from doctor Sanjay who began cycling to work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
You can find more local advice on cycling on our Cycling pages.
Walking
Walking might not be viable for longer distances, but could you do the school run by walking, instead of driving or catching the bus, or allow extra time to get to a nearby destination meaning you could walk?
Using walking to get to nearby destinations is a great way to fit more movement into your day, and all those short journeys made by foot instead of car will add up, saving you money on fuel as well as dong your bit to help the environment.
If it’s too far to walk all the way, could you park further away and walk the remainder of the journey? This might save you parking money, or simply mean it is an easy way to regularly fit activity into your day.
For more top tips to get your started walking visit our walking pages.
If you’ve recently started using active travel we’d love to hear from you. Tag us on our social media channels, or get in touch if you’d be happy to be featured on our website.