Dr. Rachel Aldred:

I will be very brief. I can send the Deputy links to studies which looked at emissions reductions arising from the use of e-bikes. There is quite a lot of research in that regard. Women and cycling is a really important issue of equity. In countries in which there is a lot of cycling, such as the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, cycling is gender equal. Women do want to cycle. When the conditions are right women cycle even more than men in some contexts. In the Netherlands, it is among men in their 20s that a dip in cycling is seen. Women, therefore, clearly do want to cycle. Nearly half of all trips to school in the Netherlands are made by bike. That is incredible. In countries where the infrastructure is not in place, children often have to go to school by car. They do not have the option of cycling. Clearly there is a big need for it.

I led a systematic review of studies on preferences for bike infrastructure by gender. We reviewed more than 50 studies and we found that most studies found a clear difference in that, while both genders wanted separated infrastructure, women had a particularly strong preference. Building protected cycleways is good for everyone but it is particularly important for women. I have also led a study on cycling with children. It can be seen that when people are cycling with children, the bar is raised again. We need that really good infrastructure. Cycleways also need to be direct because as distance increases, the propensity to cycle decreases. This is called a distance decay curve. That curve is particularly steep for women. If we send people around the houses or around three sides of a square to avoid a busy road, it puts women and older people in particular off cycling because they then have to cycle further. It is a kind of double whammy. Women will cycle if we get it right, but we need to provide safe, direct, separated routes.

Another point is that infrastructure should not be built for commuting only. More so than men's trips, women's trips often involve trip-chaining. They may go from the school, to the shop, and then on to work. We do not only need routes for commuting but also safe routes around schools, shops and so on. It is important to build for destinations.