Sustrans

Sustrans

Headquarters of Sustrans in Bristol
Formation	1977
Headquarters	Bristol, UK
Region served	United Kingdom
Website	www.sustrans.org.uk

Sustrans is a UK charity enabling people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of the journeys they make every day. It works with families, communities, policy-makers and partner organisations so that people are able to choose healthier, cleaner and cheaper journeys, with better places and spaces to move through and live in. Itis working on projects to encourage people to walk, cycle, and use public transport to give people the choice of "travelling in ways that benefit their health and the environment".

Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created over 14,000 mi of signed cycle routes throughout the UK, but about 70% of the network is on previously existing, mostly minor roads, in which motor traffic will be encountered.

Sustrans works with schools to encourage active travel (cycling, walking or scooting) among students. It also works with employers and local authorities. It administers several thousand volunteers who contribute their time to the charity in numerous ways, such as cleaning and maintaining the National Cycle Network, enhancing biodiversity along the routes, leading walks and rides and supporting communities to improve their air quality.

Its vision is that by 2020, four out of five local journeys will be made by bike, foot or public transport.

Sustrans was formed in Bristol in July 1977 as Cyclebag by a group of cyclists and environmentalists, motivated by emerging doubts about the desirability of over-dependence on the private car, following the 1973 oil crisis, and the almost total lack of specific provision for cyclists in most British cities, in contrast to some other European countries.

A decade earlier, the Beeching Axe closed many British railways that the government considered underused and too costly. One such railway was the former Midland Railway line between central Bristol and Bath, closed in favour of the more direct, former Great Western Railway between the cities. Sustrans leased part of the old route with the help of Avon County Council (Bristol and Bath were then part of the County of Avon) and turned it into its first route, the Bristol & Bath Railway Path.