Myth: “It’s all about cycling.”

It’s easy to see how people might get that impression if they are not really paying attention, especially when all the fancy pictures and visualizations focus on the cycle infrastructure. (After all, a picture of a pavement doesn’t really make much impact.) However, there are at least three ways in which this is a myth.

First, a lot of the work on the Bee Network is directly for the benefit of people walking. Active Neighbourhoods tend to be fairly small and easily walkable, so they benefit people walking far more than people cycling. The emphasis is on pedestrian crossings, continuous footways, filtered streets and reducing motor traffic volumes and speeds, which are of great benefit to people on foot.

Not just cycleways; pedestrian crossings, continuous footways across side roads, tactile paving and fewer motor vehicles.

Second, protected cycleways themselves are beneficial to people walking. We often hear people complain about (other) people riding cycles on footways, without considering why they might be riding there: because they are afraid to ride on the roads. When there is a good quality protected cycleway, people no longer need to ride on the footway. In any case, walking with a cycle lane between you and the motor traffic is far more pleasant that walking right next to buses and trucks.

Third, once people have alternatives for travelling up to 5 or even 10 km, motor traffic levels should reduce, which makes our streets more pleasant for everyone, including people who are walking (and even people who are driving).

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