pounds 2m push to get on our bikes

NEW YEAR resolutions to get fitter and healthier by cycling to work are about to become more achievable, thanks to a Government initiative in which showers and changing-rooms attached to covered cycle parks are to be established in many cities..

The Department of Transport's Cycle Challenge has awarded pounds 2m to innovative schemes encouraging people to cycle to work, and has been given the full backing of the CBI. Peter Bancroft, of the London Region CBI, says the capital should be ideal for cycling commuters, as around 40 per cent of car journeys are less than 2.5 miles (4km). But if more commuters are to be persuaded to use bikes, roads need to become more cycle-friendly and there should be facilities for cyclists to shower when they get to work.

The CBI has already encouraged many employers to fit cycle racks in the workplace and to lay on changing-rooms and showers. "They will be a fitter and better motivated workforce, and better equipped to work than those struggling to get to work on the Underground," says Dr Bancroft.

London Region CBI was a partner in a successful Cycle Challenge bid. "This is coming out of the work done by us on transport in London, which is a nightmare, because companies ask people to come into work at nine and go home at five," Dr Bancroft says.

For many years the Department of Transport seemed sceptical about cycling, but attitudes have changed thanks to a cycling Secretary of State, Sir George Young, and a cycling convert, Steven Norris, as local transport minister. The Cycle Challenge, which was announced in July, will provide half of the capital cost of pilot projects that could end up being copied widely. In Suffolk, adaptations will be made to some trains to enable them to carry bikes, and in Cumbria buses on two services will be converted to take bikes on a front rack.

In other places the emphasis will be on providing showers and changing- rooms for those who have cycled to work. The London Cycling Campaign, which has led the pounds 28,250 London bid, is now looking for six companies to act as partners to meet half of the capital cost of providing changing facilities and bike parks. They will be encouraged to pay cycle allowances to staff who make the switch.

Nottinghamshire has won almost pounds 250,000 for a more ambitious programme, which has gained support from local businesses including Boots and CCN, the business information organisation. The Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham has for the last year been encouraging its employees to cycle, in part because of inadequate local car parking. Hundreds of staff now cycle to work and Queen's has been putting pressure on the local authorities to improve cycling facilities. Nottingham already has the most extensive network of cycleways in Britain.

Liverpool and London will use their Cycle Challenge money to build multipurpose cycle centres, which will create showers and changing-rooms alongside bike repair and hire facilities and, in Liverpool, a laundry service. Showers and changing-rooms have been introduced successfully in German, Dutch and Danish rail stations.

York City Council has won the largest amount from Cycle Challenge, pounds 267,500, to create purpose-built cycleways to large business premises.

There will also be high-security, computer-controlled cycle lockers installed at the railway station and at workplaces.

Research at Nottingham University, used to support Nottinghamshire's Cycle Challenge bid, does show that lack of washing facilities and poor bike security deter potential cyclists. But the research also shows that fear of accidents is a much greater factor, with many cyclists wanting segregated routes.

Providing dedicated cycleways is expensive. It can cost pounds 25,000 to make just one junction safer for cyclists, and narrow streets make them more difficult to provide than in many continental European cities, where cycling is much more commonplace. In Nottingham the cycleways network is at its best in the suburbs and at its worst when cyclists mix with heavy traffic in the city centre. The county council is considering a comprehensive inner-city network of cycleways when Nottingham's tram system is constructed in the near future, taking advantage of the extensive road disruption that will cause.