London must do more to promote diversity in the cycling community, the city’s cycling chief has said

London’s walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, has expressed concern at the diversity of the current cycling community that is dominated by white, middle-aged men. As a result, he is considering introducing diversity targets to encourage more women and people from ethnic minority groups to cycle.

Speaking to The Independent, the commissioner said: “There is a problem with cycling and the way it is perceived of getting middle-aged men cycling faster around the city, which is not the objective at all.”

When considering the reasons for the lack of diversity, Norman said: “There are a number of reasons for that. One is that safety is paramount for getting different people from different walks of life cycling: older people, younger people, those from different backgrounds.”

A number of projects have been revealed to address the problem, including cycle training, promoting electric bikes, grants for certain community groups and expanding cycle routes. Quietways is a secondary cycle network that supports the primary network, offering cyclists alternative routes that are less-busy.

While Norman highlighted that the Mayor is fully committed to delivering cycling projects, he admitted that more can be done.

“Is it ambitious enough in the longer term? I think we need a higher level of change,” he said.

“The target that we have set out in the mayor’s transport strategy is over that 25 years we want to shift to 80% of journeys to be walking, cycling or by public transport.

“That is a much more ambitious target and really is fundamentally rethinking the way that we move around our city.”

Mr Khan has promised to spend £169m annually on cycling schemes over the next five years. This compares with an average yearly spend of £91m promised during the previous mayoralty under Mr Johnson.

Source: story first published by The Independent on 28/05/2018