Welcome to our new look website and our new name which reflects our new priorities for active travel. Anyone who’s been following us as We Walk, We Cycle, We Vote for the last couple of years will be aware that we’ve been on a two-year journey of our own, learning to see, hear, and experience the barriers to active travel from everyone’s perspective, but especially those of disabled people.
Out of this we have not only found real common ground between us but we have come to see that once we start to place accessibility at the centre of how we look at and design our streets, then you will create conditions that are better for everyone (something that is true in many aspects of life, from chairs to potato peelers).
This understanding is reflected in our new ‘asks’ – the three points we’ll be asking candidates of all parties to sign up to in the coming Holyrood elections:
- Accessibility: Ensure that our streets, paths and footways are accessible to everyone, whether on foot or using any form of mobility aid; by putting accessibility at the heart of our street design, we will create places everyone can use and enjoy.
- Infrastructure: Create a long-term programme to rebuild our villages, towns and cities around walking, wheeling and cycling, with active travel infrastructure everyone can use – the initial goal should be that every child who wants to can walk, wheel or cycle to their school.
- Investment: Provide the sustained, long-term investment needed to start this transformation of Scotland into a country that enables active travel everywhere – starting from 10% of the transport budget, and rising to 20% over the course of the parliament.
But we realised we could not leave it there. By not including ‘wheeling’, our old name and logo excluded the many people who use a wheelchair to get about.
Hence our new name, new web address, and lovely new logo.
What hasn’t changed is our determination to keep active travel in all its forms to the forefront in the coming election campaign. Watch this space for news of how you can get involved. And if you’re part of an organisation that shares our aims, please sign up to become a supporter and help us transform Scotland into a country where everyone can walk, wheel or cycle in safety, wherever they want to go.