MORE people are using or are considering using alternative methods of transport to their car as the result of a multi-million pound programme to get residents travelling sustainably.
A survey by the £2.5million Choose How You Move project found increased interest in bus journeys as well as walking and cycling as a result of efforts made over the last three years.
The findings have been released in a report to mark the end of the project which will be showcased to the public in the Kingfisher Shopping Centre on Sunday (March 8).
As part of the project over 31,000 households across the borough were contacted as part of a scheme to provide people with individual travel assessments which gave them information – such as bus timetables and cycling routes – to help them make their journeys in a different way. Work has also taken place with schools and businesses.
The report highlights how a survey carried out last year found almost 77 per cent of people now felt they could substitute a car journey for walking compared to 26.2 per cent in 2012.
In 2014 over 55 per cent of people felt they could travel by train, up from 5.1 per cent two years earlier and 49.3 per cent of those surveyed were prepared to make their journey by bike in future, up from 13 per cent.
There was also a 50 per cent drop in the number of people not interested in taking the bus.
The report also highlights the success of the Tour Series elite cycle race the project brought to Redditch which over the last three years has generated over £300,000 for the local economy and attracted almost 40,000 people to the town.
There have also been a series of infrastructure projects including 234 improvements along bus routes and the provision of 190 new cycle parking spaces.
Sunday’s event runs from 10.30am to 4.30pm and will feature a treasure hunt for under-13s and giveaways as well as reminders to residents to complete their household surveys by April 1. A final assessment of the project is expected to be released later this year.
Coun John Smith OBE, responsible for highways on Worcestershire County Council, said: “This is the Choose how you move project’s final survey which will help us to determine where the greatest impacts have been made. There has been some excellent involvement from residents, school and workplaces, and I would politely ask households take a small amount of time to help us capture this information.”
Visit www.chooseredditch.com to view the report.
