Kids cycling to school shouldn’t be rocket science

Quick ways to get more kids cycling to school

Covid-19 has already shown how quickly things can progress when there's the political will and some funding. 

There's no reason why all of these can't be implemented in the next few months, except the lack of political will to do so.

1  Reprioritise all highways and planning authorities away from keeping motor vehicles moving to keeping people moving, with priority on active travel for local journeys under 20 minutes

2  Give several ministers responsibility for making it possible for every child who wants to cycle to school to be able to do so

3  Set up daily press briefings with lots of graphs to let everyone know how quickly progress is being made against items 1 and 2

To help them on their way, here's a few top secret, rocket science level things that these clever people could do NOW:

4  Ensure school entrances are safe by making "School Street" schemes compulsory across the country

5  Implement 20mph speed limits in all built up areas and enforce this rigorously (using the proceeds to fund other things on this list)

6  Extend the "Bike to Work" scheme to be a "Bike to School" scheme, offering ALL families access to loans and grants for cycling equipment

7  Set up a national network of family cycling libraries so families can test out / borrow the equipment needed to cycle to school with younger children

8  Build secure, covered bike sheds at all schools

9  Build bike storage facilities in residential areas so all families can securely and safely store their cycling equipment

10  Give every child an air quality monitor to carry around with them, especially on the drive to school

11  Demand car manufacturers start making cargo bikes instead

All these things could be done in a matter of weeks - if the people in charge thought saving the planet was a priority.  Scroll down for some things that might take a bit longer.

Longer term ways to get more kids cycling to school 

Long term, there's a few key things that need to be done. 

This isn't rocket science, and all that is needed is to reallocate some of the road building and space budgets, together with the political will to make it happen:

1  Capital budget, released immediately, for every authority to implement everything in their Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (or regional equivalents)

This will remove the need for areas to bid against each other for small pots of funding, as currently this situation results in piecemeal infrastructure and a postcode lottery as to whether it's safe to cycle

2   Capital budget, released immediately, for every authority to upgrade all their existing cycling infrastructure to meet the LTN 1/20 standards

3  Ongoing funding provided to every authority to maintain all their new and existing cycling infrastructure to a high standard

4  Legislation to ensure that it's really easy and cheap for people and things to move around our country in the most environmentally efficient way.  This would mean a lot more investment in walking and cycling infrastructure, car and bike sharing schemes and public transport, rather than assuming everyone wants to drive (or indeed can drive) everywhere.