York Cycle Campaign and related dates for your diary

Friday evening social ride

25 July at 6:30pm, York Minster – On the last Friday of the month cyclists meet up for a short ride around the city before ending up at a cafe or pub. For July, we plan to tour the newly completed areas of York Central. There are new wide segregated bike lanes! All welcome.

Drop-in: York Central update

31 July from 3pm – 7pm, main hall at The Guildhall in York city centre. The latest in the quarterly drop-in events,  designed for you to come and meet the team and find out more about our latest plans for this brand new city quarter. Cyclists might want to try out the newly opened bike lanes either on your own or with the Friday evening social ride (above) before attending.

Cycle security marking

Three events at York railway station, outside the first class lounge, 4-6pm on Thursdays (British Transport Police):
24 July
28 Aug
18 Sept 

Sun 10 Aug from 3-5pm at Acomb police station (North Yorkshire Police)

Note: this event might be subject to last minute changes in time, so please double-check beforehand.

Cycle to school week

13-17 October 2025 – maybe have a word about Cycle to School Week with your local school before the end of term and they can be mulling it over during the summer break!

Recent events

Active City Conference 2025

The Active City conference on 2 and 3 July at the Barbican was a huge success, generating lots of media coverage about active travel – walking, wheeling and cycling – which is usually far from the top of the agenda. York Cycle Campaign was delighted to have the opportunity to be involved, and you can read more about our engagement on the website. 

Millennium Bridge 25th Anniversary Ride

The Millennium Bridge 25th birthday cycle ride took place at the end of the first day of the two-day Active City Conference. It was the biggest mass ride York has seen since the Sky Rides a decade ago. More than 200 people took part, including conference delegates and local cyclists. There was a mix of age groups and a wide variety of bikes, and there was a real party atmosphere thanks to the folks at Cyclehoop and their DJ skills. The ride focused on making walking, cycling and wheeling safer. 

Cycle marking update

Six North Yorkshire Police attended the anniversary ride “after party” to mark and register bikes. Their presence was very welcome, and shows their commitment to tackling cycle theft. We are starting to recover bikes to owners using BikeRegister, so please get your bike registered to increase the chance of finding it, if it is stolen. There are 100s of bikes stored by the police but they have no way of reuniting them with owners because none is in the BikeRegister national database. If you contact them with the make, model, colour, and any specific distinguishing features they might be able to find your stolen bike in storage. This is why we recommend the registration of all your bikes on BikeRegister, and the inclusion of a photo. 

YCC stall at local events

Making the most of early summer events, YCC had a successful stall at the annual family-friendly York Cycle Rally on the Knavesmire. The following weekend, we had an information and recruitment stall at the annual West Bank Park Fair. It was hot and packed… and the stall attracted plenty of interest from cyclists both local and from further afield: Halifax and Dunnington among others!

News

New active travel fund

The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, David Skaith, has announced that groups across the region can bid for a share of £4m earmarked to support active travel schemes. These could include secure cycle parking facilities, training and school streets. The pot will be available between September 2025 and April 2028. An Active Travel Commissioner will be appointed, and paid for from the fund, which they will administer as part of their role.

Active travel network pledge

Another initiative announced in the build-up to the Active Travel conference was the pledge by 11 of England’s Combined Authority mayors to create an active travel network across the country. The initial commitment is to create 3,500 miles of safer routes, starting in Autumn this year. We will be keeping an eye on progress.

York Central cycle route opens

There is exciting new cycle provision at the recently opened sections of York Central, although our inspection ride threw up some queries and concerns which we will be raising with the developers. If you’ve got any comments on it, let us know.

City centre travel corridor plan: consultation delayed

The latest word from the council is that proposals for radical changes to prioritise bus and active travel in York city centre won’t be ready for consultation now until some time in August, extending into September. Timing is critical because repair works are planned for Lendal Bridge in the first 3 months of 2026 before implementing the changes planned for Rougier Street, Micklegate and Ouse Bridge. Key details will include provision for deliveries, cycle access, taxis etc.

Terry Avenue diversion

Terry Avenue is closed until mid-August with a diversion in operation whilst they drill a cable under the Ouse. However, the footpath is still clear so  anyone who can walk with their cycle would probably prefer to do that rather than negotiate the busy inner ring road.

Haxby train station

Early this month (July) the Department of Transport announced that the proposed new Haxby rail station has been given funding approval. We need to campaign throughout the planning process for good quality cycling facilities and network linkages as those proposed in the current application are woefully inadequate.

Cycle stands at Co-op

Tim, our Bishopthorpe YCC rep, contacted the village Co-op during its recent major refit, asking if it can replace its 2 butterfly-style cycle stands with modern Sheffield stands. He’ll let us know if there’s any success.

Grōni renews YCC corporate membership

We are delighted to welcome sustainable decorating firm Grōni to another year as corporate members. With the strapline “pedal and paint”, Grōni transport their cargo bike by van to the edge of York, then cycle to their customers in the city.

Opportunities and actions

URGENT – Bishopthorpe Road Survey

This week Bishopthorpe Road traders are conducting a survey of customers and passers-by in the neighbourhood – on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

While the concerns of the traders are primarily focused on parking charges, they are interested in broader issues too, including visitor’s mode of transport and their views on the wider offering and amenities of the street. We would urge all our members to go along and engage in this survey as we think there is a tendency of traders everywhere to underestimate the importance cycle use. Regardless of your view on parking charges, we think it’s important that they hear the voice of cyclists – first that we actually exist, and second – to press for more and improved cycle parking on this much-loved shopping parade. As things stand, there are only a few cycle stands that enjoy the benefit of the eyes of the street, whilst the majority are in more secluded spot right at the back of the car park (where no sane cyclist would leave their bike!). We believe that more people would cycle to Bishy Road if there was better provision. Please do go along and make your voice heard.

Narrow cycle lanes: your opinion

As reported in the June newsletter, Executive Member for Transport Cllr Kate Ravilious has informed us of a new practice of not reinstating narrow cycle lanes after resurfacing work (as happened on a section of Huntington Rd north of Link Rd junction). She provided research on cycle infrastructure to support her case from London, Australia and USA. Our concern is that blanket application of this policy could see more and more areas losing any provision. Let us know your view. 

Concern has been raised by Haxby Town Council that if this were to be applied to York Road in Haxby there could be a decline in current levels of cycling to Joseph Rowntree School. Currently there are high levels of cycling to and from the school, despite lanes being far too narrow in places. However, they are useful on the approaches either side of the level crossing and close to the school. Worryingly – picking up on patterns of male/female cycling mentioned in previous newsletters – our observer only saw male cyclists whilst he was there.

And in other news…

Taking the heat out of cycling

Sustrans recently published some advice about ways to avoid arriving at work hot and sweaty from your cycle commute.

Share a beer with your bike

YCC member Martin stopped to quench his thirst at a microbrewery in Montreal only to be invited to bring his cycle in and use their indoor parking. Something to suggest to your local York hostelry, perhaps.

Safe cycle lanes boost cycle provision

Member Stefano came across an interesting article about the impact of safe cycling provision on levels of cycle commuting. 

Come across anything you think other members would like to share? Contact us via social media or email.