Chris Boardman: How cycling can save the world
On 6 December at the Intellectual Forum, former professional cyclist and Jesus College Visiting Fellow Chris Boardman discussed the positive impact of active travel on our communities and the environment.
After retiring from a decorated career in professional cycling, Chris was Policy Advisor to British Cycling for more than a decade. He was appointed Greater Mancher’s first Cycling and Walking Commissioner in 2017 and is now the Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Active Travel England, aiming to raise the standards of active travel infrastructure around the country.
While in conversation with IF Director Julian Huppert, Chris discussed the benefits of creating an environment where people feel able to travel to shops, schools, and workplaces wihtout relying on cars. He recalled making the case for active travel infrastructure to each of Manchester’s ten boroughs. “They were expecting me to sell them something and I said, ‘Listen, it's costing you 3.75 billion to travel in this region at the moment. You are spending two million pounds a month treating inactivity alone. It’s costing 800 million a year for collisions. If you can live with that, fine. Oh, and you're not going to meet any of your decarbonization targets unless you drive a third less. That's as it is now. Are you okay with that?’ ‘No’. ‘Do you want some other options?’ ‘Yes’”.
Chris repeatedly emphasised that giving everybody more choice in how they travel, rather than actively discouraging any specific forms of travel, was Active Travel England's goal. “We're not trying to get more people cycling and walking, we're trying to give people more choice”, he said.
To that end, he explained the positive impact more active travel infrastructure would have on the entire transport system—including those who choose to drive. In Greater Manchester, for instance, he worked out that if all the people who cycle chose to drive instead, cars would fill all three lanes of the M60 ring road nose to tail in both directions. “What does a driver need? Well, more space would be great", he said. "How do you get more space? Less people driving. Why would people drive less? Because they have other choices”.
But, as an online viewer asked, how do you actually convince people to choose those other options? “I think the first thing you've got to do is make it easy”, he said. “You've got to be able to look out of a car window and go, oh that looks quite interesting. Otherwise, why would you get out of a car? You don't get a culture overnight, you change it. And it will only change if you give people a reason to and that basically make my life easier, cheaper, easier way to get to school”.
Throughout the event, an image Chris had chosen of two young girls cycling together was up on the screen behind him. The photo was taken in Amsterdam, where, Chris said, 60% of kids travel by cycling. “And it's nothing, they're not doing it for their health, they're not doing it for any greater good. They're just doing it because it's easy”, he said. “And while they're doing that, they're making zero carbon journeys. They're looking after their own health without thinking about it. They have transport independence, which makes a massive difference to lives. And it's just there, and we haven't got that, and that's 211 miles away. And that's not right”.
