CATHERINE WYKES: Steve Finan is wrong – this is why Dundee needs active travel infrastructure

The Courier

14-05-2025

Active travel is far from being a daft idea – our city can't afford not to invest in it.
On behalf of Dundee Cycling Forum, I'd like to respond to Steve Finan's recent column in which he wrote: 'For years we've been fed the myth that everyone aches to commute by bike and only a pesky lack of infrastructure stops them.
'If that were true, people would spontaneously abandon car travel and use existing roads to cycle upon, crowding cars out.'
Steve asks what sort of person thinks billions should be spent to indulge a minority hobby.
I don't know anyone who thinks that – but I do believe Dundee should invest in active travel, so let me introduce myself, Steve.
I'm an out of shape, middle-aged woman and I bought a bike 10 years ago to get a bit of fresh air and exercise.
I didn't consider using it for transport.
Faced with busy roads and no joined-up cycling routes, why would I?
But then the penny dropped.
My journey to work was only three miles, and with a bit of careful planning I could cobble together a route using residential streets and the odd bit of cycle path.
Now I have a cheap, healthy way to get about and start the working day feeling more alert.
I know I'm an exception though.
In the UK, women make half as many trips by bike as men and are more likely to be put off cycling by a fear of heavy traffic.
Steve's claim that people would use existing roads to cycle if they wanted to isn't what people tell me when they say I'm brave to do it.
It's true that technology marches forward, especially where there's money to be made.
There's a reason the car industry spends billions annually on advertising, telling us that cars equal freedom when the reality is often very different.
In a 1921 Nobel lecture, Christian Lange observed that technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.
We've built a car dependent society where your opportunities are restricted if you can't drive, and car ownership places a financial burden on households who could well do without it.
And what about young people? Don't our kids and grandkids deserve the freedom to travel independently as we once did?
Change doesn't bring the past around, but it can bring a fairer, safer, healthier future where we all have real freedom to choose how we get about.
Cars will still have a place, but as servant, not master.
We'll use them only when they're the right tool for the job.
Can it happen? The signs are encouraging, with Glasgow's South City Way and Edinburgh's City Centre West to East Link seeing significant increases in people cycling.
Dundee could absolutely reap the same rewards as the many cities around the world who've invested in active travel, typically seeing a return on investment of more than £5 per £1 spent.
Several readers have noted the phenomenon of induced demand, where road building encourages more journeys, meaning any reduction in congestion is only ever short-lived.
Spending millions on a bypass that wouldn't deliver any lasting benefits – now that really would be a daft idea.