Bike It : Wales End of Year One report to Welsh Assembly Government October 2009
39% of all children told us they now cycle to school at least once a week, compared to 13% before Bike It
11% of all children told us that they now cycle to school every day, compared to 3% before Bike It
Sustrans is the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity. Our vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. We work on practical, innovative solutions to the transport challenges facing us all. Sustrans is the charity behind the award winning National Cycle Network, Safe Routes to Schools, Bike It, TravelSmart, Active Travel, Connect2 and Liveable Neighbourhoods, all projects that are changing our world one mile at a time. To find out more visit or call: www.sustrans.org.uk 0845 113 00 65 Head Office Sustrans 2 Cathedral Square College Green Bristol BS1 5DD Sustrans Sustrans Cymru 107 Bute Street Cardiff CF10 5AD 029 2065 0602
Registered Charity No. 326550 (England and Wales) SC039263 (Scotland) VAT Registration No. 416740656
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Bike It Wales End of Year One Report
Table of contents
1
Introduction
2
Reporting Results
3
Project Development
4
Highlights Highlights
5
Summary
6
Acknowledgements
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1.
Introduction
This document provides the results of the first full academic year of delivery of the Bike It project in Wales. A short narrative update on project delivery since the last report accompanies the quantitative end of year results.
1.1.
Targets
The targets for the programme are; 1. 15% of the target age group (9 -12 years) cycling on a regular basis (at least once a week), by the end of a full academic year 2. 20% - 30% of all pupils participating in at least one school cycling event 3. 10% -15% of all pupils (all ages) cycling to school 4. Increased take-up in National Standards Cycle training (Bikeability) – approximately 50% of pupils in years 5 & 6
1.2.
Data collection methodology
The data used in this report is derived from surveys conducted in the Bike It schools from September 2008 (baseline) and July 2009 (follow up). Attendance at Bike It activities organised throughout the year is also reported, so too are the number of bicycles counted in bike sheds. For the main survey question, mode of transport to school, Bike It officers throughout the UK use a standardised and tested set of questions known as the ‘hands up survey’. Teachers or the Bike It Champion are asked to carry out the ‘hands up’ survey at the beginning of the September term for the baseline and at the end of July for the follow up. The preference is for school staff rather than the Bike It Officer to conduct the surveys as this discourages pupils from answering how they anticipate the Bike It officer would like them to respond. Teachers, who usually know the true travel behaviours of pupils, are able to query children if they answer incongruously. Bike It Officers keep records of the attendance and participation in activities that they deliver at each school. They also undertake counts of bicycles in school bike sheds and make observations on factors that might affect the numbers e.g. weather conditions or other events happening in school that day. All the data is entered on to an electronic database which is analysed and reported on by Sustrans’ Research and Monitoring Unit (RMU).
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Bike It Wales End of Year One Report
2.
Results
2.1. Target One : 15% of the target age group (9(9-12 years) cycling on a regular basis (at least once a week) Headline result for all Wales – children in the target age cycling at least once a week to school. Before Bike It
12.6%
After Bike It
43.0 %
It should be noted that 12 out of the 20 schools reported data by year groups, therefore the target age dataset is not wholly representative. As the project has worked exclusively with primary schools in its first year, we suggest that the All School dataset is used as the key headline result (see target 3 below).
2.2.
Target Two : 20% - 30% of all pupils participating in at least one school cycling event
Names of pupils attending each Bike It event are not recorded, so it is not possible to report on an individual child basis whether 20 – 30% of pupils attended at least one event during the year. The event or activity with the maximum attendance is reported for each school. This excludes school assembly activities where the Bike It officer has presented and 100% of pupils are engaged. Conwy
Activity / event
% of school roll attending
School name Craig Y Don
Bike maintenance session
33%
Cynfran
Bike skills session
29%
Deganwy
Bike maintenance session
24%
Eglwysbach
Bike maintenance session
97%
Ffordd Dyffryn
Bike ride along the NCN
28%
Glan Morfa
Bike maintenance and skills
47%
Llanddulas
Dr Bike
52%
Maelgwn
Bike maintenance session
43%
Maes Owen
Healthy school day cycling activities
22%
Nant Y Coed
Cycle skills session
18%
Pant Y Rhedyn
Bike maintenance and skills
26%
Sant Elfod
Bike maintenance
6%
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Port Talbot
Activity / event
% of school roll attending
School name Blaenbaglan
Bike skills session
32%
Bryn
Bike breakfast
54%
Bryncoch
Classroom session on cycling and health
48%
Central Junior
Launch of Virtual Bike Ride
59%
Glanymor
Classroom session on cycling and health
41%
Pontrhydyfen
Bike ride
45%
Rhydyfro
Love your session)
Sandfields
Puncture repair workshop
16%
St Joseph’s
Bike ride
23%
St Therese’s
Bike skills session
23%
Traethmelyn
Love your session)
YGGD Trebannws
Launch of Virtual Bike Ride
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Bike It Wales End of Year One Report
bike
bike
(maintenance
(maintenance
29%
41%
52%
2.3.
Target Three : 10% - 15% of pupils (all ages) cycling cycling to school
The data for reporting against this target comes from the “before” and “after” hands up surveys. Results are reported separately for all Wales, the Conwy project and the Neath Port Talbot project. The total number of schools returning data was twenty; all twelve schools in Neath Port Talbot and eight schools from Conwy. Headline result – whole school data, data, all Wales
Before Bike It
After Bike It
Pupils cycling regularly
13%
39%
Pupils who never cycle
77%
41%
Never Everyday Once or twice a week Once or twice each term Once or twice a year Total
Before % 77 3 10 6 4 100
After % 41 11 27 15 5 100
Do you cycle to school? 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 Percentage (%)
ALL WALES
50.0
PRE POST
40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0
Neath Port Talbot Never Everyday Once or twice a week Once or twice each term Once or twice a year Total
Never
13% 13%
39% 39%
Before % 80 2 8 5 5 100
After % 31 15 31 17 6 100
Everyday
Once or twice a week
Once or twice each term
Once or twice a year
Do you cycle to school? 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 Percentage (%)
Cycle regularly (at least once a week)
50.0
PRE POST
40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0
Cycle regularly (at least once a week)
Never
10% 10%
Everyday
Once or twice a week
Once or twice each term
Once or twice a year
46% 46%
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Never Everyday Once or twice a week Once or twice each term Once or twice a year Total Cycle regularly (at least once a week)
Before % 74 5 11 6 4 100
After % 60 6 20 11 4 100
Do you cycle to school? 80.0 70.0 60.0 Percentage (%)
Conwy
50.0 PRE
40.0
POST
30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 Never
16% 16%
Everyday
Once or twice a week
Once or twice each term
Once or twice a year
26% 26%
Bike shed counts give a useful snapshot of cycling levels, but the data is not statistically robust as the counts are influenced by a number of factors, for example whether or not the Bike It officer delivered an activity on the day of the count. For illustrative purposes, three examples from each project are given below, giving the number of bicycles counted at the first visit and the highest number of bikes counted during the year.
1st count at initial assembly
Highest count
Traethmelyn
2 bikes
140 bikes (50% of school roll)
Pontrhydyfen
0 bikes
38 bikes (63% of school roll)
Central Junior
0 bikes
90 bikes (44% of school roll)
1st count at initial assembly
Highest count
Maes Owen
0 bikes
31 bikes (20% of school roll)
Maelgwn
3 bikes
44 bikes (43% of school roll)
Craig Y Don
7 bikes
74 bikes (34% of school roll)
Neath Port Talbot schools
Conwy schools
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Bike It Wales End of Year One Report
2.4. Target Four : Increased taketake-up in National Standards Cycle training (Bikeability) – approximately 50% of pupils in years 5 & 6 Cycle training is delivered by the local authority road safety offices. We recommend that WAG collects data on the delivery of the training from each local authority directly. Currently there are no targets set at a local level for the delivery of Bikeability training and Sustrans would welcome the opportunity to discuss how cycle training could be mainstreamed as a key life skill for children in Wales. In response to our request, the following information was supplied by Conwy and Neath Port Talbot Councils. These are the figures for Bike It schools at which Bikeability was delivered; other non-Bike It schools also received the training.
Conwy
Number of pupils attending course
Ysgol Llanddulas Ysgol Maes Owen Ysgol Craig y Don Ysgol Deganwy Ysgol Pant y Rhedyn Ysgol Glanwydden (originally a Bike It school, but dropped out) Total
Numbers passing assing level level 2
% of years years 5&6 passed level 2
12 18 18 31 23
10 16 12 25 16
38% 12% 12% 32% 23%
30
20
31%
132
99
21% 21%
Neath Port Talbot
Number of pupils offered training
Number of pupils that took part
Blaenbaglan Bryn Bryncoch C.I.W. Central Jnr Glanymor Pontrhydyfen Rhydyfro Sandfields St Joseph’s St Therese’s Traethmelyn YGGD Trebannws
43 2 22 56 23 5 15 37 29 26 39 16
34 2 20 40 18 5 15 18 24 24 18 14
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2.5.
Attitudes to cycling
The hands up survey also measures attitudes towards cycling before and after the Bike It year of activities. Even before the Bike It intervention, cycling is the most popular preferred method of travelling to school (45%), but after Bike It this has increased further to 57% of all pupils. How would you prefer to travel to school?* 60.0
50.0
Percentage (%)
40.0
PRE
30.0
POST
20.0
10.0
0.0 Car
Walk
Bus
Cycle
Train/other
The snap shot question, “how did you travel to school today� gives a useful comparison to the preference question. Despite a significant 7 percentage point drop, travel to school by car remains the highest mode of transport to school with 41% of pupils saying that they travelled by car that day (down from 48% before Bike It). Cycling quadrupled, from 4% to 17% . How did you travel to school today?* 60.0
50.0
Percentage (%)
40.0
PRE
30.0
POST
20.0
10.0
0.0 Car
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Bike It Wales End of Year One Report
Walk
Bus
Cycle
Train/other
2.6.
Range of engagement activities delivered
Each Bike It officer plans a series of activities with the school champion each term. The type of activities are designed to be appropriate to the stage of engagement that the school has achieved, so for example, Bike Rides tend to take place in the Summer Term once pupil cycling confidence has increased through the skills sessions delivered in previous terms.
NPT range of engagement activities Virtual Bike Race Event
616
Playground Skills Session
460
Classroom Session
799
Bike to School Event
603
Activity
Bike Sports Day/Event
173
Bike Skills Session
259 35
Bike Ride
Parents Pupils
441
Bike Maintenance
955
Bike Crew/BUG Event Bike Breakfast
50 34
Assembly
24
After School Club
20 0
472 2557
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Numbers recorded
The bar chart above plots the total number of pupils attending all Bike It engagement activities during the year, across all twelve participating schools in Neath Port Talbot. Numbers of parents attending were recorded for three of the activity groupings; school assemblies, bike breakfasts and bike rides. In Conwy the range of activities has been slightly less varied that in Neath Port Talbot. The pie chart shows the activities delivered, by percentage relative to each other. Bike maintenance sessions and playground skills sessions have been the most popular activities requested by school champions.
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Conwy range of activities
Assembly Bike Maintenance Session Bike Ride Bike Skills Session Headteacher / Travel Plan meeting Bike / Walk to School Event
3.
Project Development
This section deals with organisational issues arising since the last report submitted in March 2009.
3.1.
Bike It Officers
Regrettably, Michael Murphy left the Bike It project in May 2009. We were fortunate to be able to rerecruit for the Conwy project from a strong list of candidates. Our preferred candidate at interview had just returned from a work placement abroad so was able to start without working out a notice period.
Gwen Thomas, Thomas started with Sustrans in May 2009 as Bike It Officer for Conwy. Gwen’s first language is Welsh and she has previously worked with RSPB Cymru as an education officer. Gwen has use of a hot desk Conwy Council’s Road Safety department in Llanfairfechan.
3.2.
Bike It Supervision Supervision
During the reporting period there has been a change of Bike It supervisor for the South East of England and South Wales, including the Neath Port Talbot project. This has not had an impact on the delivery of the project as Emma Mather, the new supervisor, comes from being a Bike It officer herself so is fully conversant with the project model.
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3.3.
Bike It Action Days
In May 2009 both projects held ‘Action Days’. These events are part of the established Bike It model. They are designed to bring together participating schools to share good practice and learn from each other. Sustrans also invites representatives from new schools which could potentially join in the following year and members of the local authority road safety teams. 3.3.1
Conwy Action Day
We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing to the Action Day in Llanrwst on the 7th May.
Image 1 : Jane Davidson AM with Bike It crew members at the Action Day Thirty one people attended the event, representing all 12 schools engaged on the project. Local Authority staff also attended and welcomed the opportunity to engage with schools at this forum.
Conwy Action Day evaluation
3.3.2
•
All feedback categories were rated excellent by more than 50 per cent of respondents and 97 per cent rated them Excellent or Very Good. 100 per cent of guests rated them Good or Better than Good.
•
Top rated were: Programme, Venue, Speakers, Organisation at Event and Refreshments. Only three people marked any category lower than Very Good, (with a Good.)
Neath Port Talbot Action Day
The event took place at Blanco’s Hotel in Port Talbot on the 11th May. Twelve adult and six pupil representatives from Bike It schools attended. We were also pleased to welcome Cardiff Council’s Road Safety Manager who attended to find out more about Bike It with the view of bringing the project to Cardiff. October 2009
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In the post-event evaluation feedback 90% of the ratings were marked ‘excellent’ showing a very high level of satisfaction. All delegates said they would be interested in attending school travel related events organised by Sustrans in the future. Neath Port Talbot Action Day evaluation What aspects of the day did you find the MOST useful? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Sharing good practice, workshops Possible events, links to NC Talking to other schools and finding out new activities to do. Sharing ideas, ways to include bike it in lots of lessons Sharing ideas for Bike It events. Meeting other Bike It schools/crews. All of it All aspects
What aspects of the day did you find the LEAST useful? 1. None 2. They were all useful
4.
Highlights of the year
This section gives a narrative description with photographs, to record some of the project highlights.
4.1.
Conwy highlights
Two of the school champions in particular have really embraced the Bike It project and quickly moved to make cycling something that the school itself promotes. The champion at Maes Owen uses curriculum time (geography) for the pupils to plan local cycle rides. Sustrans volunteers have helped accompany the rides. The champion at Ysgol Eglwysbach organised ‘cycle on Tuesdays’ for the last 5 weeks of term, results showed that over half of the school pupils were cycling in on these days. A highlight for the Bike It crew at Ysgol Ffordd Dyffryn in Llandudno was that Mike Murphy came back after he had left Bike It to help with a coastal cycle ride in the summer term. Mike had been very popular with pupils so we were grateful that he volunteered his time to help out whilst Gwen was gaining her ride leader and first aid qualifications. The Conwy project has made good progress with establishing strong links to external agencies, for example local Community Police Officers who have supported cycle rides, and 5 X 60 school sport officers.
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Bike It Wales End of Year One Report
4.2.
Neath Port Talbot highlights
Ten out of the twelve engaged schools in the Neath Port Talbot project took part in the Virtual Bike Race organised by Louise Powell. The event was inspired by Louise’s frequent long distance cycle rides which she often told children about on a Monday morning after the weekend’s adventures. This gave her the idea of organising a Virtual Bike Race which would have all participating schools competing against each other to see which could complete the distance fastest, tracing Louise’s route from Anglesey all the way down the West Coast to St David’s and across to Chepstow. Pupils were encouraged to cycle to school every day for the two weeks of the challenge, and everyone who did were awarded a number of points each day. A calculation ensured that smaller schools were not disadvantaged. The challenge caused quite a stir, with schools getting very competitive and phoning each other to compare daily totals! The winning school was Pontrhydyfen where Sustrans organised for the local MP, Hywel Francis, to award the prize and congratulate the school. In total, during the 2 week competition there were 2648 journeys to school by bicycle and pupils saw how easy and fun it was to cycle daily, whatever the weather.
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Louise’s highlight of the summer term, in her own words;
“Cycling into the grounds of Traethmelyn primary on the first day of the school bike themed sports week nearly left me speechless and completely blew me away when there were bikes locked up absolutely everywhere, with no spaces left on any of the railings and bikes wedged into the cycle storage. Over 140 pupils and 20 parents had cycled in to school to take part in the Bike It activities I’d organised for the day”
Image 2 : Pupils from Bryncoch Church in Wales Primary School enjoying a bike ride
Images Images 3 & 4 : Love your bike session with years 3 & 4 at Traethmelyn
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5.
Summary
The first year of Bike It in Wales has been very successful, with all of the objectives within Sustrans control being met or exceeded. At the end of the project; •
43% of 9-12 year olds said they cycled regularly (target 15%)
•
39% of all pupils said they cycled regularly (target 10-15%)
•
the number of pupils never cycling dropped from 77% to 41%
•
children cycling every day increased from 3% to 11%
•
cycling has replaced car trips, walking has remained constant.
The snapshot survey question ‘how did you travel to school today’ reveals how the changes in transport mode towards cycling have been achieved. It is particularly worth noting that car journeys rather than walking trips have been replaced by cycle journeys. There has been a 7 percentage point reduction in car trips (baseline 48%, after Bike It 41%). Walking has remained constant at 40%. In Conwy the number of pupils regularly cycling has increased from 16% to 26% thanks to Bike It. The Neath Port Talbot project has exceeded expectations, thanks to strong support from the local Road Safety team but also the enthusiasm of the participating schools and a very competent and dedicated Bike It officer.
6.
•
the project in Neath Port Talbot increased the number of pupils regularly cycling by four and a half times (baseline 10.1%, end of year 45.7%).
•
in the snap shot survey question “how did you travel to school today?” cycling shot up from 3% of children in Neath Port Talbot Bike It schools at the start to 25% at the end of the project.
Acknowledgements
Sustrans Cymru is very grateful for the support of the Road Safety departments in Conwy and Neath Port Talbot Councils. We thank them for providing in-kind support in the form of office accommodation for the Bike It Officers but also for their help in getting the projects established in the first year.
We also gratefully acknowledge our funders; the Welsh Assembly Government and the UK cycle industry via the Bike Hub fund. The excellent results reported here clearly demonstrate the value of their investment in the Bike It pilot programme in Wales.
Jane Lorimer 16 October 2009 2009
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