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'Fuel prices are a reason to swap car for bike'

Lauren Hirst,North Westand
Richard Baker,North West
PA Media Chris Boardman, who is wearing cycling gear including a helmet, is standing behind his bike and smiling in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. PA Media
Chris Boardman was appointed as England's Active Travel Commissioner four years ago

Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Chris Boardman has said more people should consider swapping cars for bicycles due to rising fuel prices since the Iran war.

The average price of unleaded petrol has risen to 158.52p a litre according to the RAC, with further increases predicted.

Boardman, whose job as England's Active Travel Commissioner is to encourage walking and cycling, said switching modes of transport would help families save "thousands of pounds a year".

He told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: "You need moments in life where there's a reason to try something different and the high fuel costs at the moment are exactly that."

EPA An anonymous hand holds onto a pump which is going into his blue car.EPA
Global fuel prices have risen sharply since conflict began in the Middle East

According to the latest government figures, 59% of all journeys in the UK are made by a car or van while 2% are on a bike.

Boardman, from Wirral on Merseyside, said the situation could see the UK mirror the changes made in the Netherlands more than fifty years ago.

The OPEC oil crisis in the 1970s, coupled with a spike in child road deaths led the Netherlands to shift from a broadly car-centric country to one that favoured the bicycle.

It also led the Dutch government to enforce 'Car Free Sundays' in 1973 where driving was banned.

Some passed the time by eating picnics on motorways, others travelled on horseback through the capital Amsterdam whilst many used their bikes more.

These pressures led to nationwide investment in cycle infrastructure and the forming of a cycle culture, which the Netherlands is now world renowed for.

EPA A cyclist is riding along the road in a cycle lane which is clearly marked by the picture of a bike. EPA
Boardman said people need an opportunity to see cycling as a "viable alternative"

Boardman said: "When I took the role as Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester [in 2021], there were 250 million car journeys a year in the region of less than one kilometre.

"People don't do that because they like sitting in traffic, they do it because they don't feel like they have a viable alternative.

"I think we have the same opportunity here as the Dutch had.

"The cost of fuel now has showed us just how vulnerable we are to changes in the world's oil prices and how over-dependent we've become on one mode [of transport]."

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