Gareth had barely ridden a bike since he was a teenager. The car was his default mode of transport into central Manchester or on the nursery run. All that changed when Chorlton’s new cycling infrastructure came in, and Gareth realised there was a better way.
If you want to help us make change happen in Greater Manchester, join us on Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/sp4xTFnpFZ
Sign up to our newsletter:
Follow us on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/WalkRideGM
Tweets by WalkRideGM
https://uk.linkedin.com/company/walkridegm
before I knew it 18 months has gone by and I guess I’m a cyclist before I got a bike I was driving to and from Nursery eight times a week to pick up and drop off my daughter uh then I was driving into town and back twice a week you know 4 and a half miles each way um so I was doing quite quite a bit of of driving and I just remember sitting in traffic one day and i’ been stuck there for 45 minutes I really needed the L and I was about halfway through my journey and I just thought there’s got to be a better way and then a cyclist flew past me in the newly built cycle Lanes so it was mainly a decision taken from a Saving Time perspective I hadn’t really cycled since I was a teenager and so having the infrastructure just felt like a really easy way to dip my toe in the water um felt really protected from the roads and it felt like you know I wasn’t suddenly going to be cut up by a car it’s just given me that kind of stepping stone to be able to get around without using my car we used to have two cars now we’ve got one that’s hassle hared you know effectively so we’ve still got a car for you know when we need it and if we’re want to do longer Journeys the realization you don’t need a car for most of the journeys you make sort of commitment to get out there for a few few months is just carried on now and before I knew it 18 months has gone by and I guess I’m a cyclist the trips I was doing to and from town I know exactly how long it will take and it doesn’t really matter what events are on what the traffic’s like it will take me 24 minutes to get from my door to where I need to be um so you know it’s about half the time riding the bike has really helped me see the city I live in through a different lens uh I know new routes to get where I’m going uh you know I feel more connected to the world around me to be honest I look back at when I move first moved up to Manchester nearly 20 years ago and I wish I’d been cycling the whole time I think of all the time I spent sat on the bus or sitting in traffic jams and I’m just like oh I could have just been whizzing around on a bike and would have been Ace [Music]
2 Comments
Change is possible 😊 Let's have facilities like this all over Manchester (and everywhere else!), the health and financial benefits for households, communities and businesses would be massive.
Cars are smashing, but let's not forget what they are intended for – multiple people or longer-distance travel. Walking and cycling are just smarter choices for short journeys in good weather!