5 million children equipped for a happier, healthier and greener future

New figures from The Bikeability Trust show a record 560,471 children in England got pedalling with Bikeability cycle training between April 2023 and March 2024 – taking the total since the programme’s inception in 2007 to over 5 million. The Bikeability Trust, who manage, develop and promote the Bikeability programme on behalf of Active Travel England, believe that cycle training can help the new government with their mission to raise educational standards and break down barriers to opportunity. 

Bikeability cycle training for all children brings a wider range of benefits:

• As a public health intervention; addressing childhood physical inactivity, obesity and the mental health crisis.
• Equipping children with vital life skills; pupils not only learn to cycle, they gain independence, social skills and a sense of wellbeing. 
• Increases road safety; after Bikeability, children are better at responding to risk and report increased confidence. 
• Increases cycling as a transport choice; after Bikeability training children are more likely to cycle to school and for leisure. In 2023, children who took part in Bikeability’s on-road course pedalled an incredible 5,340,194 kilometres during training.

The Bikeability Trust Chief Executive Emily Cherry said: “I’m so proud of the five million children who are now equipped with the skills and confidence to thrive through pedalling, funded by Active Travel England. But we know we have further to go. That’s why our mission is to ensure no child leaves school without the knowledge, confidence and opportunity to cycle.  Now, more than ever, is the time to focus on the most important thing; to protect the future generation and support them with investment in clean, green and healthy active travel choices.”

The Bikeability Trust wants to:

1. Maintain government funding levels for ‘every child’  
2. Extend Get Cycling in Schools programme, which trains teachers to coach balance and pedal skills to children aged 3-6 years old
3. Implement zero rate VAT on children’s cycles 
4. Bring adult cycling under administration of The Bikeability Trust  

These policies are backed up by parents. In a YouGov study conducted by The Bikeability Trust, only 14% of parents feel very confident to use the Highway Code to teach their children to cycle on the road. Yet 71% said that cycle training should be on the school curriculum, 59% wanted more cycle paths and cycle safe routes, and 30% called for drivers to have mandatory education on how to drive safely with cyclists on the road.

Notes

1. A total of 560,471 children received Bikeability training in England (including London). This is for all courses including Balance, Learn to Ride, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. It includes delivery by Bikeability instructors and Get Cycling in Schools teachers. 310,374 children received the Level 2 on-road cycle training course. More information on the delivery statistics can be found here.
   Note that funding for London is from Transport for London but figures are included in the total.
2. Adolescents who participate in cycling more than four times per week are 48% less likely to be overweight as adults (Menschik et all, 2008) and habitual cycling is positively correlated to overall psychological wellbeing (Martin et al, 2014 in Cycling UK, 2017). Cycling to school and for leisure helps to meet the WHO targets for physical activity.
3. 90% of children report an improvement in ability to judge risk after training. (NFER, 2015, SQW, 2019)
4. Children who have cycled since the start of term after completing Bikeability and a 12% increase of Year 6 children who cycled in the past week (SQW, 2019). 310,374 children completed their Level 2 training in 2023-24, and we calculated the distance travelled during training to be an average of 17.15km which includes cycling to school and the distance we cover on the courses whilst teaching in their local area.
   The Bikeability Trust’s 2023 Impact Report can be viewed here.