More than two thirds of people in GM say they would walk and cycle more if they felt safer, which is especially true of women and girls.
Welcome to episode 3 of series 3 of The GM Moving Podcast. This is our Right to the Streets series where we invite you to join the conversation about what makes our streets, parks, and public spaces joyful, welcoming places.
In this episode, we head to Old Trafford on a walkabout workshop with our project partners Open Data Manchester to hear from members of the community about their experiences of walking, wheeling and cycling in the local area.
We’re also joined by Active Travel Commissioner, Dame Sarah Storey, and Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, Vernon Everitt, as we explore active travel (meaning all journeys that are walked, wheeled or cycled to include people traveling by wheelchair, scooter, pushchair, e-bike and other mobility aids) and the links between active travel and trips by public transport, as we seek to make journeys to and from bus, tram and train stops safer and more inviting for all.
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Episode transcript available to download. (/media/5267/right-to-the-streets-podcast-series-3-episode-3-active-travel-transcript.pdf)
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The Right to the Streets podcast is just the start of the conversation and we want to hear from you. Tell us about the initiatives, movements, projects or moments in your community that are contributing to joyful, safe and more welcoming streets for all.
Send us a voice note (https://www.speakpipe.com/righttothestreetspodcast)
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Welcome to the right to the streets edition of the GE moving podcast join the conversation about what makes our streets parks and public spaces joyful welcoming places for people to be and to be active join me Eve halt strategic leader at greater sport on the journey around the streets as we explore
People’s freedom to move about without fear in each episode we hear about the roles we can all play to make where we live work and play places where all women and girls feel they belong and are invited to be active We Gather stories experiences and ideas as we speak to strategic leaders
Decision makers and lots of local people who are creating the conditions in place for everyday moving and active lives for All in this episode we explore active travel this means all Journeys that are walked wheeled or cycled to to include people traveling by wheelchair scooter push chair ebike and other Mobility AIDS each year in Greater Manchester we make millions of short Journeys by car greater Manchester’s goal is to make
Active travel the Natural Choice for as many of these short trips as possible in this episode we explore the links between active travel and trips by public transport as we seek to make Journeys to and from bus tram and train stops safer and more inviting for all we know that congestion currently greater
Manchester 1.3 billion each year air pollution contributes to about 1,200 pure deaths each year whilst one in six premature deaths are also linked to inactive seditary lives more than 23ds of people in Greater Manchester say that they would walk and cycle more often if they felt safer this is especially true of women
And girls we hear what an incredible opportunity there is in Greater Manchester to aable people to move freely each day across our city region and we hear some of the projects initiatives and investment that can help us realize the future that is possible so coming up you’ll hear from two key
Leaders hi I’m Sarah story I’m greater Manchester’s active travel commissioner I’m Vernon everick the transport commissioner for greater Manchester who have all contributing to strategies and the whole philosophy behind the B network is that we provide a safe reliable welcoming customer focused public transport and active travel offer
To give people a viable alternative a safe viable affordable alternative to unnecessary car Journeys and campaigns we have a campaign currently uh drivers look three times at Junctions um look far look near look nearer the idea that you need to look properly you need to check three times to make sure that your
Eyes haven’t deceived you because quite often there’ll be a situation where someone really didn’t believe they’d seen that person to help us get more safe public transport and active travel across greater Manchester but first let’s head to Old Trafford to hear from members of the community about their experiences of walking wheeling and cycling in the local area we’ve been invited by right to the streets project Partners open day to Manchester or odm as we like to call
Them to listen in on one of their Walkabout workshops these walkabouts are a series of organized walks around the north Trafford area which took place in early 2023 as part of this project the aim is to gather firsthand real-time information from women and girls and those who identify as trans or nonbinary
From all walks of life professions and backgrounds who live or work in the area using maps and prompts the participants share their thoughts and unique perspective perspectives of the community whether that be areas that they deem unsafe pockets of the locality where they’ve experienced problems or places they find Joyful the Insight
Gathered from the walkabouts is then being compared and combined with other information we have about the local area such as policing and crime statistics to create a much richer picture of people’s lived experiences locally which can then inform action to make streets more inclusive and welcoming and so that’s where you join
Us now outside a large building on the edge of Old Trafford for an open day to Manchester Walkabout a i lovely R welcome to the wellbeing Center here to host the walkabouts at Brisa and toy bat they’re user researchers and Community engagement workers at odm hello I’m us
Resarch also here to join in the Walkabout fun is Emma a policy officer at Trafford Council hi I’m Emma I’m Emma’s been helping us out Lots as part of the right to the streets project hi I’m Marie and we’ve got Marie who works in Innovation team at transport for
Greater Manchester Marie has helped to develop a gender equality and transport toolkit that’s been presented to transport professionals across the world hi I’m J then there’s Jane Jane’s a lawyer at Le day she looks after injured cyclists and Road users she’s also a part of Team glow a local women cycling
Network based in Greater Manchester and she lives locally I’m director of Public Health and finally Ellena Ellena is a public health director at Trafford Council and a keen cyclist we’ll also be hearing more from Ellena in our Public Health episode The walkout starts of a workshop style experiential mapping session
Today’s group discussion happens in the training room in Trafford wellbeing Center and odm has spoiled the tables with maps colored pens Post-it notes and everyone’s excited to get stuck in the mapping session facilitated by the lovely toy bat and Prisa is a starting point of the Walkabout hello everyone
I’m tyat and this is Prisa we’re from open data Manchester and we’re going to be running the experiential mapping session today um so as part of the right to the streets um project we’re doing these mapping sessions to to map out where you guys kind of go your
Experiences how you feel in order to make places more welcoming and safer for women and girls um so like into the session basically we’re going to begin with asking these three questions I’m going to be noting down things that you say on the poits and then we’re going to
Move on to these Maps where we’ll map out routes that we either take often avoid point out places that we enjoy and like vice versa um and then we’ll like kind of look at what route we want to take on the walk about after and then we
Can come back and kind of reflect on the walk we talk and how we feel and stuff so I’m going to hand over to prisco who’s going to be asking asking the questions so the basis of this discussion centers around a series of questions such as what makes you feel
Safe or unsafe in your area and what makes you feel like you can or can’t be active in your area that’s where Jane shares a story about an experience she’s had with a car and its driver parking in a cycle Lane and on and on the pavement
And I to deviate my path and so did other cyclists just because this guy felt it was his entitlement to par query parked and it was on the new Chon cycle Highway and I said just cuz your hazards are on does it make this okay and he was
I’m delivering I was like but you’re able bodied so you could park further away and he didn’t really have any answer to that but as he was doing that two cyclists had to deviate what they were doing and go into the main carriageway out of the cycle Lane and I
Had to move furthest into the pavement and then when it’s dark that sort of thing I don’t like I always work on the edge of the pavement so that I’m more visible to people around me I have this fear of being pulled off the pavement basically you know by someone in a hedge
Or something like that but equally there’s if a pavement is blocked and you have to walk in the road and if it’s dark that’s really dangerous because you’re not as visible you know there’s a like I know and then it’s time to get the maps out one of the most interesting
Parts of the workshop where we can actually pinpoint locations and most importantly where we want to walk today I head over to Emma and Marie and ask them what the things that make them feel they belong in a space and where they feel welcome and joyful I think
Having an area which is kind of opening inviting infrastructure wise so if there is infrastructure which makes you want to say cycle or walk then that immediately would make me think of active travel for those um Journeys in places where it’s maybe more of a hostile pedestrian or kind of cycling
Environment I I don’t think I’d be too tempted to unless I saw other people doing it as well I think it’s always like safety and numbers helps as well yeah i’ say for me it’s definitely somewhere that feels like it would be a nice walk and there’s lots of people
Around and it’s kind of like well lit and bustling with like businesses and a variety of people around that would definitely feel welcoming if you have a square for example what activities can you do in that square that is not just like sitting there or passing through it
So giving communities the opportunity to make that space their own and then inviting them into it in different ways or forms whether it be a meeting point for the start of say like a a club or a group or just a a nice place to sit hang
Out so that they’re not kind of congregating in areas which like street corners that sort of thing and across all age groups as well yeah I think it’s a big problem that it’s individualized and it’s put on the active traveler themselves to kind of make good decisions and rather than it should be
On the government it should be on the council it should be on the perpetrators of any crimes that might be happening and that’s where the owner should be rather than victim blaming if things go wrong or putting all this pressure on people to make good decisions when there
Isn’t necessarily a good route available to them so coming to you Elena like why why does it matter why should we create you know safe joyful active travel routes for everyone it’s not good for us to be physically you know to be stationary all the time we need to move
Around and one of the easiest ways to get people to move around is by getting people to walk and cycle more and the fresh air the exercise it’s so good for our physical health and it’s really really good for our mental health but it’s not good for our mental health if
We’re feeling stressed or anxious and we know as well that the way we’ve laid out our streets at the moment there are some people that it makes it much much more difficult to use those streets so if you’ve got cars parked on the pavement it can make it really difficult for
Anyone pushing a push chair or somebody using a wheelchair or walking Aid to actually walk and leave their house safely without having to walk onto the road which becomes really dangerous there’s been studies as well showing that parents don’t want their children to walk to school because they’re
Worried about that park car the park cars on the Pavements if you’re cycling past a park car you’re really worried about whether the do going to open on you so we’ve allowed people to use cars in a way that really is very antisocial and actually the majority of people
Aren’t drivers most of the time most of us are walking most of the time um and it could be much more fun it could be much nicer to be walking it’s the way that we’ve designed our cities and the way we’ve allowed cars to really Dominate and it’s not good for our
Health physically or mentally on then big question how do we change that narrative so we’ve been sold this idea that the car gives us freedom and Independence and is somehow most pro-social whereas actually we know that that one is not available to everyone and actually just you describe that’s
That’s not true it’s impacting on our health and the health of the population and you know extreme end it causes one in six deaths doesn’t it you know the fact that we’re inactive all the time so how do we shift that narrative and help people to see that you know walking
Actually is a great way for us to be more independent and have that freedom I think we have to tie into I think it is about the messaging and it is that freedom and it’s making sure that people understand that the more of us that walk the better maintain the streets are the
Safer it becomes particularly with good Street lighting but also we are an aging Society we’re going to be if we’re not physically active we’re going to age worse we’re going to have worse problems in old age as we get older many of us will find that we have eyesight problems
And other things that mean that our site is limited and that we can’t actually drive anymore so it is really important that we we start thinking about how do we future proof the city for an aging population and how do we make sure that it’s something you know and absolutely I
I really think that public transport is a really really important element of this so it’s making sure that we’ve got good public transport we’ve got good bus routes we’ve got good Tram routes and that we give priority to our public transport because actually people are very tolerant about being stuck
Bizarrely tolerant to being stuck in cars in traffic much less tolerant of being in a delayed bus or train but we do have to make sure that our roads are clear enough for people to cycle down them people to take be in the bus and
The bus to go to reasonable speed and to go where we want it to go so not just into the center of town but actually those orbital routes that many many people want to take um and we also need to really I think with ebikes it’s a
Real um eye opener to me how many many more people particularly as they get older are really absolutely loving the freedom that the KNE bike or a KNE cargo bike gives and once you get people out on those things you knowy there’s a reason why cyclists are the happiest
Commuters you know it’s that freedom that Independence and that being in the fresh air and being part of even in a big city you’re feeling part much more part of Nature and much more attuned to the seasons and and understanding of the weather when you’re out on a bike or out
Walking and bike is the perfect way to get to know a new place as well because you’re going at a really good speed you’re going fast enough that if you make a mistake it’s not a half hour detour but you’re going slow enough that you can really enjoy your environment
And your surroundings and ebikes are definitely having a real giving I know a number of people who are retiring and buying bikes ebikes and it’s giving them a whole new lease of life and a new way of understanding their city it’s so liberating Jane comes over and points to
Trafford bar tra stop on the map and explains her trepidation when she finds s getting off the tram there in the dark looking at this map now when I’ve got off there I just felt lost and I’ve not known where which direction I meant to
Even go in to get home and if it’s dark this road here which is Seymour Grove which actually just is straight into Chon and I didn’t realize but when you get off the road get off the tra and you look it just looks like this dark long road um that feels really isolated
There’s no one around so I would I wouldn’t I wouldn’t even hesitate I would literally just get an ebra and go home I wouldn’t I wouldn’t even think about well can I get a bus down here I wouldn’t you know so I think what would
Make me feel safer is if I got off here the lighting would be better um and that there would be some sort of sign posting around just needs to be a road sign almost that just sort of says this is the direction of this area this
Direction of this area this is where you can get public transport um cuz I think then more people would do that that and then there’ be more people waiting at the bus stop that you’re going to wait at the bus stop for um and that sort of
Thing cuz in some places you know the way finding also tells you doesn’t it how long it might take you would that make a difference if if you also had not the direction but also some sense of how long that’s probably going to take you
To get there yeah if this if I got off here and it said it will take you 10 minutes to walk to North Charon then I would or FW you know that sort of thing then I would immediately go okay I’m going to take I’m going to take that
Risk almost but you know like I’m going to walk that because I know that once I get into an area that I know I’m immediately going to feel safer anyway so in terms of that sort of like walking after dark with you know Vis A V public
Transport that’s that would make me feel a lot safer um then in terms of like cycling um this this is my commute this bit on upper Chon Road I mean I know it’s not in North Trafford but it’s on the map um and this Junction here which is the
Brooks bar Junction I think um is getting better because of all the infrastructure that’s been built around it at the moment but right turning onto Upper cholon Road off Chon Road has been a bit scary so to have it dedicated infrastructure that basically you don’t
Have to think too much about it like you literally just follow what it tells you to do and then you’ll kind of I feel like it’s baked in safety when that structure is going to be set up and all the separated cycling infrastructure that’s now in place along these roads
Has massively improved the quality of my commute at least so you walked here today didn’t you so I guess is there anything how did you plan your journey to walk here and what things would you kind of purposely go out of your way to walk past or two and what things would
You avoid so CU it’s daytime I haven’t made a huge amount of effort to avoid particular points I was quite happy when I looked on I looked on Google Maps and worked out like just you know figured out the route um but I was happy it was straight down one road effectively cuz
It it was bmore Manchester Road and then Seymour Road uh Grove and I like that there wasn’t a load of like different turnings to make or to try and remember which way I was going um I felt very straightforward but on the actual walk I did encounter quite a lot of some
Antisocial pavment parking that affected my experience of walking there was quite a lot of long weights at traffic lights um which made me worry I was going to be a bit late cuz I didn’t factor in the long waights at traffic lights um noticed some poor driving that sort of
Thing um but it was particularly Pleasant walking down Seymour Grove after Chon because pavement is really wide and there wasn’t actually a lot of pavement parking to contend with unlike the center of Chon which was worse basically after the mapping Workshop it’s time to head outside onto the
Streets of old traff aford and experience firsthand some of the things we’ve just been talking about along the way we stopped to chat to sfy a local resident who’s joined us for the walk and she explains while walking around the area is limited to certain Seasons so most of the time I’ll
Go probably most mornings I’ll get out early I’ll go with my husband to to Trafford Park he’ll drop me off and I walk back along the canal and it’s amazing there’s you know there’s other people the wildlife everything that you see it’s really really nice to walk along
There and I can make that route sort of half an hour 45 minutes an hour however much time I’ve got and then be back at home to start work you know before the day and I’ve done all my exercise and I feel really good but then it comes to
The winter and and the mornings are dark and I just I don’t feel safe I don’t feel safe at all walking along there it’s dark there’s not as many people and it it yeah that’s it just that that bit of exercise stops and is there anything
That you think you could point to that has led to feeling unsafe you know is that stuff that you’ve heard stuff that you’ve seen where does that where does that feeling of not being safe come from I think it’s I think it’s probably just growing
Up you know living in sort of the center of Manchester and hearing you know different things that have happened to other people in areas that are dark and not well lit you know as a woman who who was out on my own I don’t want to put
Myself in the kind of situation where you know something might happen to me so I I don’t I make sure that it’s light and that there are other people around so nothing has ever happened in particular but yeah it’s just a feeling of looking after myself I suppose and
When you stop so you stop doing that walk so do you find other ways to be active or does that just stop in your life I mean if the weather’s nice then I’ll I’ll tend to get the bike out so I’ll I’ll cycle um but not along the
Canal again I think it’s just too dark it’s not well lit enough um but when it’s when the weather’s nasty I don’t I just don’t ex size in the winter we walk further up the road on mass and stop by Trafford bar tram station I’m just curious because you’ve talked before
Jane about getting off at Trafford bar and being a place in particular that you don’t feel like you then know where to go and how helpful signposting wayf finding and I don’t know what it is it is disorientating like I know this area really well and I know I could go show D
Ro and get home but it still is somewhere that I don’t off that I do get a bit disorientated and maybe it is because there busy traffic I often feel like if I’m on my bike I feel like I have to go with the flow it’s somewhere
That I find quite hard to maybe do what I want to do because I don’t really trust like it’s really hard to do a right hand turn there off um is that Chester Road what’s that road talet road off talet road on to see more gr um but yeah the things that help
Give you a really clear reminder of this is where you are this is the direction you want to head in which time post to some of that but there’s also just landmarks aren’t there quite some really visible landmarks help you or the longer I’ve lived here the more I’m familiar
With that be being a landmark actually over there I know oh yeah this is by the by the Traer bar tram stop but it’s only taken me in the last sort of year to kind of figure that out and I didn’t realize there was a barrel bike stop and
I actually think now I’m thinking actually if I did find myself having to get off here before getting to Chon I might just use a barrel bike like carefully on the pavement to get into Chon cuz there’s I know that there’s places to there’s docks in Chon where I
Could leave the bike instead of having to get an Uber or but also now feel like I might now have joined it up because I’ve walked I might actually feel able to just walk down SE more Bo to get home I guess if you’ve done that generally at
In the night and dark yeah cuz I had the same thought it’s great seeing all the Bell bikes there cuz it’s a perfect example isn’t it it’s a great road to get off a TR stop and then be able to get on the bike and go along what quite
A long road but it is quite a long straight road really wide as well so I actually didn’t mind walking down SE more gr cuz I know that and I actually I could safely ride a barrel bike I know you’re not meant to ride on the pav but
If I’m just slowly going down I feel sa doing that I’m walking and just do it on the pavement so I’m out of the way of traffic we finally make our way up to the town hall on tet Road and observe how Community buildings presence of
Shops and housing can all impact on our feeling of safety we make this road less impactful but I know it’s a it’s a main thoroughfare isn’t it for accessing this this area from City Center I guess is it like it is it is the main thorir but I
Think it’s it’s also got lots of big buildings there’s no sort of small shops that that break it up so that you can yeah I don’t know see other people in and out of shops and in and out of I don’t know bars and cafes I think that
Kind of thing would help it’s not very green I know that it’s winter but it’s not doesn’t feel like there’s any Community around here actually I think that’s yeah it doesn’t feel like there’s anyone that’s actually local to hear it just feels like this is sort of office
Space I know that’s got Apartments over there but again you can’t really see PE that looks more like a business to me Emma Marie and a new voice to this conversation imagin who works with me at greater sport explain how the design of roads and building sites can also leave
Them feeling unsafe only know it was there because I’ve been to that stop before and it is kind of quite a nice pedestrian route down to it like you know it’s a wide footway and the the bit um going up to the metr link stop but
Yeah there’s a tiny sign I can see over there but it could definitely be more impactful these Crossings are really terrible and it’s really annoying trying to cross the road when you I walk down this street and then I get like here and I have to go over there cuz the cars
Don’t stop even when they’re meant to and they you can tell that people are annoyed to have to stop for you so yeah I often get slightly run over yeah agreed I mean not knowing the area very well as well I remember the first time I
Came across this bit and it just took a while to figure out like which bits you actually meant to cross out or which bits you were allowed to cross out to get to the other side um so yeah I imagine a bit of a nightmare for local
Residents I mean there’s not really much they could do about my issues but this is where I got off to go to my gym and then walk up this way and there’s so many like construction sites that aren’t very well signposted or particularly well lit at night and I think when you
Get up there there’s like an apartment building with loads of overgrow bushes and then you get around the corner and there’s more abandoned buildings so it’s just places where you feel like as a woman I’ll kind of have to walk further into the road away from these places to
Feel a little bit safer and particularly down there like I’ve walked that at night on my own and there’s been sort of people kind of hanging around and I don’t know you don’t feel protected you don’t feel like there’s anyone around if anything happened even the uni sort of
Set back behind Gates so it’s just a little bit isolating I don’t know what they could do about it though I I once saw a man peeing in the garden over there as well which was very it was in December it must have been freezing I don’t know what he was
Doing I really wanted to shower him but I was on my own so I was like maybe don’t sh at the [Laughter] Man what a fantastic snapshot real time of real experiences from women who walk wheel and cycle on these streets every day the next time you go out can you pinpoint the areas places or spots where you feel safe or unsafe what are their character istics is it a wide Green
Welllet Street or perhaps a confusing pedestrian Crossing or a dark alleyway you can share your experience with us for this series and we’ll tell you how to do that at the end of this Episode so from the outside to the inside we’ve heard firsthand from people who are experiencing our streets so what about the decision makers who have a role to play to create changes strategies and campaigns to improve move the way we get about next I tracked to Greater Manchester’s commissioner for
Active travel hi I’m Sarah story I’m greater Manchester’s active travel commissioner I work alongside our transport commissioner Vernon Everett who is focusing on the public transport side of the B Network and he and I work in collaboration to make sure that the active Travel network which is for
Walking wheeling and cycling links in as seamlessly as possible to our public transport hubs be that a bus a tram or a train Dame Sarah story is one of Britain’s most successful Paro Olympic champions of all time she was appointed Dame in 2013 for her service to par
Cycling in 2019 she was then appointed the first active travel commissioner for Sheffield City region she moved to Greater Manchester in May 2022 to become the Region’s second active travel commissioner taking over from Chris bourman greater Manchester’s commissioner for public transport is also Al joining us online I’m Vernon
Everett I’m the transport commissioner for greater Manchester and I work with the mayor Dame Sarah’s active travel commissioner and the combined authority to introduce the B Network to Greater Manchester which is the integrated public transport and active Travel network which is really going to revolutionize what it’s like to move
Across this region Vernon joined transport for greater Manchester in May 2022 to having previously been at transport for London for over 14 years Vernon works very closely with Sarah on the integrated B Network a joined up strategy that will integrate public transport and active travel to serve the
3 million people who live across greater Manchester including the thousands of businesses that operate in the city region I kick off by asking Vernon why does safety and our transport feeling welcoming and joyful matter on this agenda it’s absolutely essential if people don’t feel safe and if people
Aren’t actually safe then we don’t stand much chance of being able to persuade people to use us over uh their private vehicles and the whole philosophy behind the B network is that we provide a safe reliable welcoming customer focused public transport and active travel offer to give people a viable alternative a
Safe viable affordable alternative to unnecessary car Journeys and without safety and without feeling safe we don’t stand much chance of being able to deliver that but it’s absolutely vital that people feel and are safe on their Journeys and this applies particularly to women and young girls and we know
From all of our research that women in particular feel less safe when undertaking Journeys on public transp Sport and we’re working really really hard to design in safety from the very beginning so that we can actually make some progress to improve perceptions of safety and also to be proactive in
Communicating to men and young boys and others in the community about what they need to do in order to to help improve those perceptions of safety and whose role is it to address those issues I think that’s a complex question crime and antisocial behavior isn’t limited to transport networks it’s a societal thing
But it all really comes together doesn’t it on public transport when you’re in close proximity to people and You observe things when you’re on a tram or you’re on a bus or you’re on a train so I think it’s a shared obligation it’s it’s an obligation on our part as public transport operators
To design in safety where they can feel confident that there’s a guiding mind and that people are proactive in looking out for their safety and things like the greater Manchester travel safe partnership are great examples of this the travel safe partnership brings together transport for greater Manchester the greater Manchester police
And lots of other partners and Charities Foundation 92 for example who all come together to play their part in making things actually safe and improving perceptions of safety and that’s a combination of prevention so Foundation 92 is a great example actually which goes around particularly public transport interchange is to engage with
Younger people about how their behavior can make other people feel particularly unsettled when they’re traveling on public transport we’re working very closely with greater Manchester police again on preventative it’s part prevention part enforcement actually which is Operation Avo which is where we actually flood the network with police officers and others including Revenue
Inspectors from metr link and and elsewhere we literally flood the network to send that message to everybody who’s a public transport user that we care we care about safety we care about their ability to report crime and antisocial behavior and to to give them confidence that will act upon it Greater Manchester
Police has a live chat facility where people can discreetly report crime and antisocial Behavior so there’s a whole combination of prevention enforcement and taking action against perpetrators when they are caught crime as measured by the number of incidents per million Journeys is actually coming down and I
Think that is Testament to all of the hard work that’s going across all agencies to try and improve things but it is very important that when there are incidents they’re properly followed up and the perpetrators are brought to Justice the obligation rests with us as authorities with the law enforcement
Community with third sector who can help reach out into schools and and other public places to communicate what it’s like to be a good user or or what you should do to be a good user of public transport and there’s an obligation on our customers of course the overwhelming
Majority of our customers simply want to make a journey and they want to make it safely and straightforwardly and we need to help them there’s a small minority of people who who commit crime and antisocial Behavior but fundamentally we’ve all got to look out for each other
And men and boys in particular have got to ask themselves the question as I do so I’m really inviting them to join me really in things about what can I do to make women and young girls feel safer when they’re undertaking their Journeys so lots of great examples of the different roles
People can play there to help us create this yeah 247 active sustainable integrated transport so active travel has been high on the agenda in Greater Manchester in this why does safety and particularly for women and girls matter to you not feeling safe is one of the biggest barriers to people and women in
Particular not taking a journey on a bike on foot and therefore if they’re not on a bike on foot they’re unlikely to be accessing a public transport Hub whether that’s a you know a bus stop or a tram station or a railway station and that means that
They’re more likely to be in a vehicle that will then contribute to congestion so we it’s about making sure people are safe on their Journeys to and from public transport as well as on the actual bus on that actual tram and that’s where this is a multifaceted
Approach or it has to be because some of people making those Journeys and I am an example of that live outside of Greater Manchester so one of the biggest challenges then is how do they work with chesher police on what’s happening in the the location that I may get off the
Train or the bus and the the walk back from where that is to where I live and obviously if we’re talking about after dark certain times of the year it’s going to be darker for longer so that’s when it really is you know very Stark just how many people do feel unsafe but
It’s not just about safety when you’re walking it’s it’s also about how safe do you feel taking that cycle journey and the behavior of people in vehicles is is a huge problem so whether that’s you know somebody being unpleasant from the window of a vehicle we’ve heard you know
Horrible stories about people with their passengers who have tried to you know throw things at people who are on bikes but also the the close pass an operation close pass is something that greater Manchester police are now actively seeking a a solution to deliver because it’s one that’s very much needed
Especially on the busiest of roads where there’s that must- get in front approach from many drivers and actually the person cycling is often going as quick or could go quicker than that traffic and um it’s really important to recognize that a person on a bike has
Just as much right to make their Journey safely as you do in your car and when it comes to active travel we know the data as well as the stories tell us is a big gap isn’t there in terms of number of women who actually are currently particularly cycling lots of women do
Walk and wheel have you got anything in terms of the data and and the Insight you know what’s the size of that gap for us in Greater Manchester and what’s the potential to close that well two-thirds of women’s sight safety is the reason why they’re not cycling currently or why
They’re not undertaking Journeys on a bike so where you see a segregated Network being developed you’re more likely to see women cycling and certainly if you go onto any of the off-road routes like the floop or like the greenway in Swinton or Road Green and walkon you’ll see more women on
Their bikes because they’re away from the traffic if you’re talking about sharing that space with vehicles even even in bus lanes you’re unlikely to see that they’ll be there’ll be much uptake and we only have to look at the the stats that are coming out from London to
See that where there is that segregated space you have a a much better balance between men and women as to who will take those Journeys those short Journeys and we’re not talking about you know the the 15 M Journey from outside of Greater Manchester into the urban center we’re
Talking about Journey you know up to 5 to 10 miles at the absolute most and maybe slightly longer if you you have access to an ebike but most of the journeys that we can talk about with regards to cycling our to and from public transport hubs and making sure
That people have the facilities that they need at those hubs for cycle parking and it’s as much about safety around cycle parking in the same way if you’re parking a vehicle you’ll choose the the vehicle parking um location according to how safe that feels so it’s exactly the same decisions that people
Have to make for active travel but they also have those additional considerations when they’re not inside a metal box what about your experiences as a woman cycling around greater Manchester certainly it’s a challenge you know the the weather is a huge hugely off-putting not least because you
Feel like you’re not very well seen even if you’re brightly lit you know that there’s that sorry mate I didn’t see you excuse and having been hit by the driver of a vehicle on a roundabout in West hon back in 2006 that lives with me it haunts me actually the idea that
Somebody would not look properly going through a junction or on a roundabout so we have a campaign currently uh drivers look three times at Junctions um look far look near look nearer I think is the slogan and the idea that you need to look properly you need to check three
Times to make sure that your eyes haven’t deceived you because quite often there’ll be a situation where someone really didn’t believe they’d seen that person but that person was as bright as they lit up like a Christmas tree is kind of the way that we often describe
Ourselves as a person on a bike but that’s one of the biggest fears you have of someone swiping you and you are you know you on two or three wheels you have no protection and it’s a two-ton metal box and the feeling of that two-ton metal box on your hip my goodness it
Will live with me to my grave and women potentially are some of the bigger uses aren’t they of our public transport they less likely to to have a car women more likely to live for longer and more like to be dependent as we’re older on public transport and on on walking in
Particular and using Mobility AIDS so there is a whole kind of gender perspective as well on actually Youth and our Journeys anything you want to add or anything that you’re learning Le and around that around the kind of gendered lens on our transport and our Journeys I think to communicate this
Effectively you have to show real commitment as an organization to designing this in from the very beginning and that’s one of the reasons I’m so pleased that transport for greater Manchester have recently become white ribbon accredited as you know white ribbon is the UK’s leading leading charity which encourages men and boys to
Bring an end to violence against women and girls tfgm achieving that accreditation that the combined Authority already has it signifies a real commitment at all levels to tackling this as an issue I work worked at Transport for London for 15 years and I can tell you that the same discussions
Are happening at Transport for London they’re happening at transport for West Midlands across the country similar conversations are happening but I think what I’m sensing is a huge commitment across the industry which is more than words because white RI ribbon accreditation means that you have to evidence how every stage of your
Decision making as a transport Authority and as an operator you are taking into account the needs of of women and young girls and of everybody’s safety uh and particularly to tackle any form of gender-based violence so that accrediation has meant that there has been all sorts of Engagement workshops across transport
For great to Manchester so we’ve been able to bring people from our bus interchanges from offices from the local districts and and to engage with people that are using local transport facilities to say okay here’s the commitment what does that mean in practice on the ground and that might be
All forms of you know all sorts of interventions like greater visibility of police and of Revenue inspectors of confidence that the CCTV coverage is being monitored it could be a number of things but what’s been great I think about white ribbon accreditation is it’s bringing everybody together to have this
Conversation and it’s so important to actually have it because then we can take action so the mayor Andy Burnham has also launched the hashtag is it okay GM and the idea is that people call other people out and recognize where they need to publicize the sorts of behavior that
Need to be you know eradicated but also genuinely seen by the whole of society as being antisocial because if we can pull across the idea that we don’t accept antisocial behavior in this way it’s a little bit like when we try to tackle drink driving or the idea that we
Need to promote why smoking is so bad for our health and all of these other things we we need to recognize that as a society we can’t accept misogynistic comments attacks on women and girls those sorts of outbursts if you like that sort of bullying isn’t an acceptable thing to do and having
Respect for the the people around you in a in a public space on a bus is no different to you know on a street in a tram when you’re in a confined space with strangers it’s even more important and our primary schools teach this so
Much but then there seems to be a gap at some point when that behavior creeps into some people’s lives and it becomes an accepted way to behave and it’s rewarded by peers if you like and then that perpetuates the problem and then that group gets bigger and they go out
Looking for trouble or for ways to be antisocial and that antisocial behavior is almost a a stateus symbol or a something that’s gives them a bit of clout within a gang and you know I’ve worked across the streets of Greater Manchester with different charities and different organizations for my you know
Entire adulthood since I was a teenager to find ways to engage with young people because the point at which they get involved with the sorts of behavior is the point that we need to find those interventions so this isn’t just about what’s happening and how we stop the
Behavior it’s about the things that those young people could do in instead how do we engage with those people to give them something that means that they’re they’re not hanging out in that way that they’re not getting involved with those gangs that they’re not getting into the position of being in
That position in the first place and that’s all of society’s uh responsibility because it’s about young people’s opportunities it’s about their their chances in life and then that comes back to the idea well if your only opportunities are available if you have access to a vehicle then suddenly that
You know removes the opportunities for whole suedes of our population who can’t afford a vehicle so we need to build the B Network to enable people to be able to travel around without the need for a car um because that enables them to access opportunities that they otherwise
Couldn’t access and then they fall into gangs and into situations where they become part of the problem so it’s all connected and when people say well why do we need the bee Network it’s so that everybody does have that chance to seek an opportunity that would be far more
Fruitful for them as IND indviduals so really is that point of how we all live a good life best make it a great place to grow up get on and and grow old which is what we want you know about 30% of people in in Greater mest don’t have access to a
Vehicle anyway having a a decent public transport and affordable public transport Network you know just broadens people’s Horizons you you may well go for that job across the other side of town if you can get there for2 on a bus rather than4 and feeling safe on those
Journeys is just fundamental to all of it one of the things that often strikes me in this debate though is sometimes we have to just be a little bit careful that we don’t demonize all young people here it is the case that most crime and antisocial Behavior does turn out to be
Perpetrated by by younger people but it’s not exclusively so and many of the victims of that crime and antisocial Behavior are young people so one of the things that I’m particular pleased about with the travel safe partnership is that proactivity in reaching out to young people who themselves are vulnerable in
Many cases to offer advice before they fall into the sorts of behaviors that Sarah just described so I think it goes back to that point about being proactive and educating young people about what being a good user of public transport actually is and the consequences of crime and antisocial Behavior both for
Them personally but also to imagine how would they feel if it was their mom their sister their girlfriend their their wife their partner who’s on the receiving end of some of this if you ask yourself that question you know we’re halfway along the line to a solution I
Think so there’s a role for all of us in in calling out and sometimes you know people dismiss don’t they as low level some of the kind of daytoday sexism on our streets and misogyny that creates again that culture and normalizes actually kind of violence against women
And girls which isn’t okay there a ro for all of us in terms of the the kind of Workforce I guess across transport is there anything in particular that we’re doing or anything more that you’d like to see happen that would support people to be gu those active bystanders and allies in
Situations so remember when we talk about crime and antisocial Behavior our own staff can subject to it that you know they’re on the receiving end of a lot of it and need support too so it’s our customers and users who need our support but it’s also our hardworking
Staff and the really important thing I think is that people don’t put themselves in the way of harm but we do communicate and give them the tools to be able to report things now if you work for transport for GR in Manchester you will know how you can report incidents
Back into the control room 24/7 control room that operates across transport for greata Manchester I think for our customers the live chat facility which is operated by greater Manchester police is absolutely fantastic where you can discreetly report something that you might observe happening in real time or
That you you happen to have just seen I think we can assure people that all of those reports are taken very seriously there is a human being on the other end of live chat and those reports really help us to identify hotspots and actually you you may recall a couple of
Years ago there was some fantastic work between the travel safe partnership combine Authority and Alm Council you know that was found at that time to be a hotspot for crime and antisocial behavior and a combination of what people were physically seeing on the ground and Reporting led to a specific
Program of work both proactive and enforcement Le to deal with it so I think it’s really important that people feel confident in raising these whether you’re a customer or a member of our staff and that they should have confidence that these reports will be taken seriously and acted upon so as
Well as people have said that you know feeling that they can report and be confident that that will be acted on um we’ve heard a lot from people around the importance of a sense of community and how more people and more people that look like you and look like the divers
Diversity of our population helps people to feel safe and that level of kind of social um interaction and surveillance so getting more people walking and cycling and Wheeling s it’s it’s kind of key isn’t it to actually our streets feeling safer the more joyful yeah I
Think when we we look at City centers we’re seeing higher footfall and those are not the places where people are reporting feeling unsafe because there’s a greater number of people around and you know walking is the one thing that more people do than any other form of active travel walking and Wheeling it’s
The journeys to and from public transport stops bus stops stops those are the journeys that people feel vulnerable on those are the journeys that we need to kind of draw attention to is how do we is it a perceived danger you know is it is it a lit street is it
A street where you’re walking past a point where there are problems you know I I know from near where I live there’s there’s an issue down on the other side of the station actually and that’s where the the local police tend to focus some of their operations because there are
Groups who ironically come from inside greater Manchester to outside of Greater Manchester to find things to to take home they’ve identified where they need to spend time and the sorts of times of day that that’s happening but if it’s a a commuter route where there’s lots of
People making that Journey you’ll be a part of a throng and then it feels far safer so you’re absolutely right that having more people doing that so that kind of comes back around full circle is that the B Network working helps to self- police some of this because there
Are more people around and you’re more likely to make that Journey it’s how we address things at the other sort of the ear the shift workers the people who are working nights those people are incredibly reliant on having a a car which means if they’re in one of the
Lower paid jobs if they’re working in our nighttime economy then they’re not necessarily always going to have the means to afford a vehicle so how do we make sure those people are feeling safe um and if we’re talking about you know having trams later on in the evening to
Enable people to utilize the nighttime economy then the journeys they make home from each of those tram stops on that route need to have attention on them anything else from your perspective Von that you would like to see happen that you think will address this sense of or
Perception of not being safe and particularly guess maybe at nighttime we all know that you know sometimes if you’re alone at a tram station and and stuff like that you you can feel uneasy we need to address that and we also need to address helping people that work in the nighttime
Economy Sarah and I speak to Sasha a lot and we we’re all focused on getting people to and from work in the early hours one of the things actually on metr link some of the lines during covid that used to run till about 1:00 in the
Morning only run to about midnight uh at the moment uh and we’re hoping later on this year to to be running again at 1:00 in the morning and I think that will be a really positive sign of progress and we also want to work with government on how we can make taxi and
Private higher be and feel safer particularly for people who are traveling to and from work either really early in the morning or very late at night fantastic so we’re coming to the end of our time is there any final kind of aspirations of where what you’d like
To see happen and where you’d like us to get to in the next few years well when I launched the refresh mission for active travel within greater Manchester the key headline was Universal accessibility so that doesn’t just speak to making sure that there something people with disabilities and long-term health
Conditions that they have access to our public transport and active Travel network but also everybody you know regardless of of your situation you know we have huge numbers of people who work in healthc care and social care um potentially on very low wages working incredible shift patterns I don’t know
How they manage and they underpin our society and make sure that you know people can have that dignity when they need that support and all sorts of times of day and night so those people are very important and women and girls make sure they feel safe but Universal
Accessibility should be at the Forefront of everybody’s mind to make sure that greater Manchester is a place that isn’t just great to come to for sports but it’s great to be here for every reason that there is fantastic any final calls to action or aspirations Vernon I’ve got two well maybe three if
I go on then we are working really hard to improve public transport and active travel and as we’ve just been discussing sometimes the perception and feel of safety comes with more people using it so we we’ll take all the actions that we’ve discussed here here with the travel safe partnership and
Designing in safety and and having easy ways to report incidents but I I would ask people to give public transport will go particularly from September when it’s the first tranch of bus franchising uh and there’ll be brand new vehicles as part of the overall franchising plan which will have all of
The buses in Greater Manchester within the mayor’s and combined authorities control by January 25 so please use us because I think the more people that use us the more there will be a feeling of safety and it will create that sort of virtuous cycle the second thing is uh
That I would urge all men and boys to think about what they can do in terms of their behavior to make women and young girls feel safer using public transport and active travel facilities I think about it a lot and i’ I’d urge them to join me in thinking about that and the
Third thing is never be frightened of reporting there are ways in which to report discreet ways in which to report please tell us and I promise that we will take Action thanks for listening to this active travel episode of the right to the streets edition of the GM moving podcast we’ve heard just some of the many ways people are working across greater Manchester to create more people friendly streets and places and we’ve heard why we need to pay Exquisite
Attention from start to finish to how we make these genuinely safe and accessible for all if we really want to create a culture of sustainable and active travel and we’ve heard how we need to be proactive in our communication with men and boys so they can join us on this
Journey and in our movement for movement the conversation highlighted once again that we all have a role to play to make our streets spaces where all women and girls can freely travel about it’s a societal issue not just one for transport for greater Manchester we’ve heard how supporting more people
To walk wheel and cycle make streets feel safer and more inviting for others it increases our activity levels reduces car dependency and congestion and carbon emissions improves our air quality and helps build a sense of community enabling more people to swap short car Journeys for more active and sustainable
Travel is good for people place our purses and the planet and is key to how we keep GM moving and create a Greener fairer and more prosperous City Region a massive thanks to everyone who’s contributed to this episode as this podcast is just a start of the conversation we’d love to hear more the next time you go out can you pinpoint the areas places or spots that you feel safe or unsafe tell us about their
Characteristics is it a well lit green streets where you feel safe or is it a confusing pedestrian Crossing or a dark alleyway or parked cars in the pavement whatever it is let us know what impacts on your Journeys and we’ll share your thoughts on future episodes of this
Podcast we’ve got a few ways you can get in touch you can tell us on social media we’re on Facebook and Twitter simply search GM moving or you can leave us a voicemail you can find the link to that in this episode show notes and on our website GM moving. co.uk we’ll be
Releasing more episodes throughout the next few months so keep an eye on our social media Pages for the next one or simply hit follow or subscribe on whatever podcast player you’re listening to right now this means the latest episode will go straight into your library as soon as
It’s released this right to the streets podcast series is one element of the right to streets project led by greater sport Trafford Council open Daya Manchester and GM moving Partners thanks to safer streets funding from the home office this series is a mic media Production