Safe Streets York Recap

During the summer we ran our Safe Streets York campaign with thanks to Commonplace who opened up their community engagement platform in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between May and September 764 respondents from around York and it’s surrounding areas contributed to the map to give us a snapshot of the issues around the city facing pedestrians and cyclists.

What’s the survey shown us?

Comments relating to the design and provision of infrastructure equate for nearly three quarters of responses to the map, with the rest relating to ‘in-use’ issues such as traffic, bad parking, and maintenance.

Zooming out on the map it’s also possible to make out strings of dots identifying those routes that are most popular. It will be no surprise that these strings follow major roads heading towards the centre and riverside routes. In part this formed some of the Cycle Campaign and York Civic Trust’s joint list of suggestions for Tranche 2 of the EATF.

What happens next?

Since the end of summer we’ve already organised a number of ‘Ward Pedals’, putting members in touch with their councillors and the information for their ward. Members have then been going out for walks and cycles with their councillors to discuss the issues raised and work out what could be done. You can read how the ride with Rawcliffe and Clifton Without councillors went in October.

We’ll be using the information as a basis for our future campaigning, helping us identify where to prioritise our efforts and also giving us a base of information when we respond to consultations. In putting the information out in the public we hope it will also help individuals campaigning and those with power to make changes such as the council.

Who answered this?

It was just cyclists right?

No. As part of the survey we asked respondents a few questions about themselves, 71 % of were said they would cycle to get around the city (pre-COVID), but 67% also said they would sometimes drive/be driven and 54% by walking. We also asked those that did get around by driving if they expected any change in how they got around, and 61% said they expect to start using their car less now.

A noticable the first lockdown had was the significant drop in traffic as people stopped driving, and started walking & cycling locally more. We asked respondents some questions about the difference this had made.

When asked if they felt safer cycling, two-thirds agreed that the felt safer with the reduced traffic.

When asked if they felt safer walking, the difference wasn’t as large but more still felt safe.