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Cycling

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for letting me speak in the gap. I have been a cyclist for many years and I am very enthusiastic about it. I feel quite strongly about the value and benefit of cycling. On the question of health, I agree entirely with my noble friend. Fitness, exercise and well-being are wonderful benefits of cycling. An important point to make about cycling is that you can do it until late in life. Cycling is intergenerational and can be done for an awfully long time. I welcome the fact that even though, dare I say it, I am now in my mid-70s, I can still cycle regularly. I hope that the knee problems of the noble Lord, Lord Colwyn, are not caused by cycling. I have always considered that one of the advantages of cycling is that it is much easier on your knees and ankles than running or other sports. It is very important that you can cycle until late in life. The advantages for the environment, about which both my noble friends spoke, are obvious. The problem is, of course, how to get more people cycling. In urban areas the answer is to make it safer and speedier. I congratulate Sustrans, the CTC and some local authorities on their work to provide safer routes to school, to work, to the railway and bus stations and to the shops. However, the lanes have to be properly designated. They need to be more than just white lines painted on the road. Even little bits of rubber nailed into the road surface so that drivers know that they have strayed into the cycle lane when they feel a bump, as exist in Paris, would be a great help. To make cycling safer and quicker, the cycle lanes have to be continuous. My noble friend Lord Berkeley talked about the cycle lanes in London, many of which are good, but the trouble is that some of them end when you get to a difficult junction, which is the very time when you need a dedicated lane. This is what makes people cycle on the footpath, go against a red light or ride down a one-way street—not that I have ever done those things, of course. We ought to give some sort of priority to cyclists or reduce road speeds. One of the pleasures of cycling in Belgium, Holland or Denmark is that motorists give priority to cyclists. There are teeth-like marks on the road and motorists stop to give priority to cyclists. That is one reason why many more people cycle in those countries. That sort of culture would be a big help. Moreover, people are not tempted to go against the Highway Code. I agree with my noble friend that we need an integrated system, an important element of which is being able to book your bike on to the train. Some railway companies provide a booking service, but many do not. Every May bank holiday I go with a small group of elderly people on a trip to France. We take the ferry from Dover, but to get to and return from the port we have to take the car. We do that because a whole group of cyclists may come off the boat and take up the few spaces available on the train. You could be stuck in Dover with your bicycle for a day or two because there are only three or four bike places on each train. A group of, say, boy scouts would take up all the spaces and you are then stuck. Indeed, that once happened to us. We have to take the car down to the ferry in order to get home. If people could book their bikes on to the trains, that problem would be avoided. It is an important point about integrated cycling. I welcome the investments into and the promotion of cycling being undertaken by the Government. I have gone over my time, so I shall sit down. I see that the Whip is very pleased at that.