Cycling to be taught to all

A leading cyclists’ body has welcomed a government statement that it wants all primary school children to be taught cycling.

However the chairman of Fédération des Usagers de la Bicyclette, Olivier Schneider, said it needs to be budgeted for properly and children must learn how to ride safely in urban conditions so parents feel able to let them go to collège (age 12-15) by bike.

FUB says sedentary lifestyles mean the average collège pupil has 40% of the cardio-vascular capacity of schoolchildren 40 years ago.

This comes as the Bordeaux metropolitan area announces another year on year leap in numbers using bikes – up 12% in 2017, partly linked to closing the Pont de Pierre to cars (measured by sensors in the streets). It has set a target of increasing the proportion of daily journeys taken by bike from 7.7% to 15% (which has already been reached in the city of Bordeaux itself). Car use dropped under 50% for the first time but was still the most popular way to get around.