event – Aberdeen Cycle Forum

Cycling Scotland Conference

September 17, 2025 by Rachel M, posted in event

Last week four of us from Aberdeen Cycle Forum attended the annual Cycling Scotland conference, which was taking place in Dundee. It feels to many of us that Aberdeen is falling behind other cities in providing safe, attractive cycle infrastructure that really encourages more people to cycle as part of their everyday lives. Why is that? Why are Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow pushing ahead, not just delivering schemes now but showing hugely ambitious plans for the future? We hoped to learn some answers. Here’s what we thought:

Alistair:

We heard a wide range of views on cycling infrastructure from “build it and they will come” to the challenge of balancing budgets at national and local level – and that was just the keynote speech from the Transport minister. It’s obviously a subject that should be getting the right level of attention with a vision in mind, not just be an afterthought. I was impressed to see what has been done in Dundee – surely a compatible city with Aberdeen that we could learn from?

The breakout sessions were worthwhile – I joined a discussion on how to share the value delivered by cycling projects with funders and one with a police inspector on improving road safety for cyclists.

Katy:

The title of the conference said it all “Investment in Everyday Cycling Delivers Results”. Quality insights and examples of leadership from the keynote speakers: powerful storytelling from Brian Deegan on freedom, Glenn Lyons on vision, Jillian Evans on health and Rebecca Morris on safety. Plenty of inspiration too from the break-out sessions on skills training and infrastructure: wouldn’t it be fantastic to see Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire officers and Councillors up there too next year boasting of their amazing accomplishments and bold plans! Heartening also to meet delegates from other cycle forums in Dundee, Edinburgh and Midlothian who share ACF’s determination to keep advocating for active travel even in the face of funding challenges.

Deema:

The room was full, and the speakers were engaging and insightful throughout. One point that stood out for me came from Glenn Lyons [Professor of Future Mobility, University of West England], who challenged the old assumption that traffic growth inevitably follows economic growth. Looking at the past 10 years in England :

People are travelling less overall (average trips per person down 14%, distance down 20%)

Yet the economy grew 35% and emissions from domestic transport fell 19%

Some trips are declining (commuting, business, shopping), while leisure and social trips are increasing.

This means we can no longer rely on “more roads” as the answer. Future traffic models need to reflect changing behaviours, the rise of digital substitution, and the shift in why people travel.

It’s a reminder that mobility planning must evolve — not just to reduce congestion, but to support healthier, more sustainable travel choices.

Gavin:

It was great to be in a room of like-minded people and to listen to some inspirational speakers from around the country. At the same time it made me realise just how far behind Aberdeen is falling. Other Councils seem to be delivering faster and have so much more ambition than we see in Aberdeen. It’s really hard to understand why that is but today we got some clues. Several speakers referenced key prerequisites – political courage – technical expertise – and funding, but in reality I think they are all linked: if you have the first one, the others will follow.

And the winners are …

September 26, 2024September 26, 2024 by gavnhev, posted in event

On Tuesday our 2024 Best in Cycling Awards came to a conclusion with winners announced and certificates presented. The winners are:

Best Employer – NHS Grampian

NHS Grampian have made strides in recent years in improving facilities for active travel and encouraging active travel within the organisation. Judges were impressed by the range of activities including a pool of e-bikes for use by staff for work-related travel. High-quality cycle parking is provided across several sites. There have also been cycling lessons for inexperienced riders and Dr Bike maintenance sessions. A worthy winner!

Best new Cycle infrastructure – Ellon Wheel Park

This Award goes to Ellon Wheel Park – a great new facility delivered by a group of dedicated volunteers who managed to get through all the planning and funding obstacles that are part of delivering a significant project like this. There is a pump track, alongside a closed loop level track which can be used for training and a full range of activities. The next stage of the project will also add a dedicated skate park. Check it out next time you are in Ellon! Ellon Wheel Park | Sports | Gordon Park, Ellon, UK

A photo of Ellon Wheel Park showing the curvy undulating bike path.

Best public cycle parking – Balgownie, Lord Hay’s and St Ninians Court

Having somewhere safe and secure to park your bike can be a real problem for those who live in flats when hoiking a bike up the stairs everyday isn’t an option. We’re delighted that Aberdeen City Council have gone ahead and installed secure bike shelters at Balgownie, Lord Hay’s and St Ninians Court. We understand more are in the pipeline for other ACC locations.

Best School – Harlaw Academy

With initial support from Sustrans I-bike project, some dedicated staff at Harlaw have continued to deliver and develop cycling in the school, including a girl’s group as part of the #andshecycles campaign. The have become a Cycle Accredited School and recently secured funding for new cycle parking. Well done Harlaw!

Best Business – Ride the North

Many of you will be familiar with Ride the North and don’t need us to tell you what a great cycle event it has become and an established date in the cyclist’s calendar. The emphasis is always on fun, the communities, and on top of that, since 2011 it has raised in excess of £2M for a range of charities. We’re already looking forward to RtN 2025!

Ride the North receiving their award for best business.

Cycle Heroes (Best community / volunteer project) – Cycling Without Age (Scotland) Aberdeen City

Before we say a bit about the winner, we were also impressed by the other worthy nominations so congratulations also to runners-up: Martin Sharman (CM Aberdeen), Clare Tayler (Harlaw Academy) and Middlefield Community Project Bike Hub. There are so many positive things happening in the world of cycling!

Cycling without Age (Scotland) has only been operating in Aberdeen for two years but they are making a huge impact and have recently been able to expand their fleet of ‘Trishaws’ such that they are now able to work with several care homes across the city. They are always on the look-out for new volunteer pilots, so get in touch if you can spare some time. Welcome to Cycling Without Age Scotland

The Cycle Raspberry – SUVs

Nominations for the Raspberry included some of our poor quality – or just missing – infrastructure, some bad examples of cycle parking provision, old and new, and one very dangerous roundabout. But the winner (voted for by the public) is SUVs. No one can have failed to notice that cars are getting bigger and the proportion of SUVs in the city seems to be increasing exponentially. Cars get bigger and bigger but our streets don’t, so the logical result is that there is less room for everyone else, including cyclists.

Celebrating 20 years of Aberdeen Cycle Forum

October 27, 2023October 27, 2023 by gavnhev, posted in event

On 3^rd October we met to celebrate 20 years of Aberdeen Cycle Forum (ACF). Without being too pernickety about the exact date, ACF was formed around this time of year in 2003.

The meeting was introduced by current Chair, Gavin Clark, who gave a resume of some of the activities ACF has been involved in. Gavin also read a few paragraphs from Derek Williamson who was one of the founders and a long-standing former Chairperson. Derek and others recapped that ACF arose partly as a result of a spate of cycle fatalities around Aberdeen and the sense that “something need to be done” to improve matters. Of course we recognised too that although there has been some progress, there is much much more to be done and in some ways Aberdeen has fallen behind by not sufficiently recognising the benefits from cycling and providing the infrastructure to facilitate it. Despite our lack of high quality infrastructure, we also noted that cycling is in a good place with high levels of uptake of recreational cycling, and some “game-changers” like e-bikes on the cusp of bringing real transformation.

We had two guest speakers, firstly Emma Roberts of Aberdeenshire Bike Bothy, who told us a bit about the outreach and development work they do. It is mainly based around selected ‘travel towns’ in Aberdeenshire and doesn’t operate in the city, which is purely down to funding availability. We hope that might change.

Our second speaker was Alistair Gilmore who is Administrator and a volunteer ‘pilot’ with Cycling Without Age (Scotland). It was uplifting to hear about this project and something we look forward to seeing more of in the future.

Welcome to Cycling Without Age Scotland

The second half of our meeting was a Question & Answer with Councillors Ian Yuill and Miranda Radley of Aberdeen City Council. We had a good discussion and lots of interesting questions. Both Councillors were fairly candid in recognising that we aren’t starting from the best place in terms of delivery of cycle infrastructure. Both also seemed genuinely committed to get the current Administration working to change things, whilst also recognising that it won’t necessarily happen overnight. The recent decision to install a segregated cycle lane on central Union St (and hopefully the rest of Union St in due course) was acknowledged as a good ‘win’ and a signal of their intent.

Of course we couldn’t have a 20^th Anniversary meeting without a birthday cake and ACF Secretary Fiona McDonald excelled with a tasty and appropriately decorated cake which was enjoyed by all. Cutting the cake we had Louise Napier of Aberdeen City Council and Sheila Rusbridge of CTC Grampian, who were the two individuals present who had been involved in the set-up and early meetings of ACF 20 years ago.

COP 26 rally, Aberdeen

October 31, 2021October 31, 2021 by Rachel M, posted in campaign, event

On Saturday 23 October a few ACF members gathered at the pre-COP26 rally in Aberdeen, where ACF Chair Gavin was amongst the speakers. His message on active travel and the lack of proper infrastructure in Aberdeen was heartfelt and is the same sort of thing ACF has been saying for most of its 18 year history. You can read what Gavin had to say below. It seemed to go down well with the hardy audience who braved a chilly couple of hours on Broad St.

But we never forget that we are often preaching to the converted: although an MP and MSP were included in the list of speakers, with their own climate change messages, any elected members from Aberdeen City Council were notable by their absence – either among the speakers or even in the crowd (apologies if any were there that I didn’t spot).

Most of the things that could be done quickly and relatively easily to improve active travel in Aberdeen are within the powers of the City Council. Are Councillors even listening? From where we are, it doesn’t feel like it.

ACF presentation at COP-26 rally, Broad St Aberdeen, 23 October 2021

Providing a means of low carbon mass transport is one of the big challenges facing us: private cars contribute about 15% of our emissions – that’s more than domestic heating and way more than aviation. Cars have their uses and many of us enjoy the convenience they offer. Yet cars are hopelessly inefficient in congested cities, and make no sense for many short journeys.

Unfortunately over the last 100 years we – as a nation – have been obsessed with cars. As a result we have a road system and even our city centre designed around the motor car with pedestrians and cyclists in second or third place.

What if someone invented a form of transport that was cheap, low impact, zero-emission, and helped to keep us fit at the same time? Well, they did, they invented it 200 years ago, and it’s called a bicycle…

The humble bicycle is a machine that can fight climate change …

But having to share the road with motorised traffic can make Aberdeen a pretty unpleasant place to ride a bike, and as a result cycling as an everyday form of transport has become a minority choice.

It doesn’t have to be like that. In continental Europe and increasingly in many British cities too, cycling is becoming a part of mainstream everyday transport. In Copenhagen roughly 50% of people get around by bike everyday. In Aberdeen, it’s one or 2%.

It isn’t rocket science, but it does need investment in a network of safe, segregated cycle paths where anyone and everyone can travel around safely. But we haven’t even got to the question of how to pay for it, because it seems in Aberdeen we don’t have politicians with enough imagination to even conceive what a city centre with a network of safe active travel routes would even look like. We had a segregated cycle path installed along the beach esplanade last year and it lasted barely two months before Councillors decided to rip it out again. A decision not informed by facts; no consultation, no statistics.

We had a small network of cycle paths proposed in the City Centre Masterplan which Councillors unanimously voted for in 2015. Six years later how much of that has been built? Unless you count this street we’re standing on, the answer is pretty much none of it.

Arguably the real reason we don’t have proper segregated cycle paths isn’t the lack of funding, it’s because our cities are tight for space so something’s got to give: what needs to be done is to reallocate road space away from cars, and that where it gets difficult because – guess what – nobody with a car wants to give up the convenience they currently have, and they’ll get really upset if you try to take away their on-street parking to make space for a proper bike lane.

It can be done with the political will. Glasgow has just announced a plan to build a network of 270km of cycle paths by the end of the decade. Imagine – almost all of that city reachable by bike within 30 minutes, no school more than 400m from a proper segregated bike path, and no house more than 800m. Edinburgh will build 85km within the next 5 years.

Aberdeen is of course a much smaller city – we don’t need anything like 270km – but we are starting from a low base. How many proper segregated bike paths do we have at the moment, well none really. And yet Aberdeen City Council is instead still working on plans to build new dual carriageway capacity to bring yet more traffic into the city. It’s hard to comprehend, and it certainly doesn’t reflect the climate emergency. Of course we get the usual excuses and wishful thinking: everything will be fine once all our cars are electric. Well, no it won’t. Just like we were told all Aberdeen’s transport problems were going to be solved by the AWPR. How did that go? If you build more roads, you get more cars. It’s called induced demand. Of course the same applies to cycling: if you build proper bike lanes, many more people will use them.

Our transport system would be so much better if people were given the realistic choice of cycling. Imagine how much better our city centre would be if we could emulate Copenhagen and take half of motorised traffic off the streets. And not just better for cyclists – better for everyone: less noise, less time-wasting congestion, less air pollution, better health for us and our children. Higher levels of walking and cycling could save the NHS £17 billion over 20 years.

Our Council’s best effort so far on encouraging cycling is to bring us a universal bike hire scheme, maybe sometime next year. What they don’t seem to recognise is that the single biggest reason more people don’t ride a bike isn’t lack of access to a bike, it’s because they don’t feel safe on the roads. By all means give us a fancy London-style bike hire scheme, but first please give us places to ride them safely.

Aberdeen Cycle Forum has been campaigning for better cycle facilities for almost 20 years, and you’d have to say we have so far failed to bring about meaningful change. The levers of power still lie with our elected representatives, and it feels like they aren’t listening. We need them to wake up to climate change, wake up to air pollution and wake up to the fact that there are alternatives to a car-dominated transport system.

Gavin Clark
Chair, Aberdeen Cycle Forum

Seminar: Urban Traffic Problems – should road capacity be increased, reduced, or reallocated?

January 23, 2021 by Rachel M, posted in event

In Aberdeen there have for many years been proposals affecting road capacity, with the Berryden corridor, and current proposals on Union Street and South College Street. The controversies about these have been equally long. But Aberdeen is not alone in such discussions – there is experience in other towns in Scotland, the rest of the UK, other countries in Europe and indeed other continents.

This seminar is aimed at better understanding how these controversies have evolved over recent years, and especially the experience of what works and what does not. We have invited an expert who has not been directly concerned with the discussions in Aberdeen, but has a wide experience of how similar ideas have been tried elsewhere, to add a wider context to our discussions.

He is Professor Phil Goodwin, a leading academic from University College London, the University of Oxford, and the University of the West of England, who has been an adviser to the DfT and the European Commission, and carried out research on the effects of road building, reallocation of road capacity, public transport, walking and cycling. In the seminar he will give an introduction with plenty of time for full discussion of the implications for Aberdeen.

The seminar will run from 1pm – 2pm on the 28th January. It will be virtual, by Zoom, and participants should register in advance at by clicking the button below.

Physically distanced demo at the beach tomorrow

November 7, 2020November 7, 2020 by Rachel M, posted in campaign, event

We’re doing all we can to challenge the removal of the Aberdeen beach segregated cycle lanes. In normal times we’d organise a protest but with the current restrictions mass gatherings are banned and with good reason. Instead we’re going to encourage people to use the cycle lanes tomorrow from 12 – 2pm. We’re going to be there and will have a dozen or so Aberdeen Cycle Forum-branded snoods to give away. We can toss one to you from two metres away!

If you haven’t written to the council about the cycle paths yet then we encourage you to do so. You can find contact details here.

Now more than ever we need to redistribute road space to active travel. Cars take up an amount of space that’s disproportionate to the number of people they can move which is in many cases just one or two people per car.

We know the segregated bike lane was made with ugly orange bollards but they were temporary. The lanes could be made permanent into something like this:

Source: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/06/22/first-pictures-of-how-new-seafront-cycle-lane-could-look-released/

This is a huge improvement on what was there which is four lanes for cars.

More cycling lessons planned for October

September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 by Rachel M, posted in event

The Aberdeen Cycle Forum has been organising cycling lessons for adults. We started in August and have put on 6 lessons and Dr Bikes so far. They’ve been a terrific success and we’ve had an overwhelming response from people wanting more so your wish is our command and we have booked in two more dates for lessons in October. Lessons are capped at four people each so please reserve your spot at the links below. We will have a Dr Bike at both events . The instructors and Dr Bike are provided by Adventure Aberdeen.

October 17th Hazlehead Park

Beginners 9:30am
Refresher 11:00am

October 31st Duthie Park

Beginners 9:30am
Refresher 11:00am

Here’s some of the feedback we’ve had so far:

Fantastic lessons. Chris our teacher was quite knowledgable and very good. I enjoyed getting to know my bike and learning to ride.

Thank you so much for such a great opportunity, it was a great lesson, the teachers were patient and superb. Thanks to the organisers.

The funding for these lessons comes from Cycling UK and Paths for all.

Cycling lessons and Dr. Bike

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020 by Rachel M, posted in event

The Aberdeen Cycle Forum is putting on a series of cycling lessons along with a Dr. Bike. The first two lessons in the series were last Saturday, 29th August. It was heart-warming to see beginner adult cyclists get their first taste for cycling and to experience the thrill that comes with it. Those of us who learnt to cycle as kids take it for granted when we’re adults but there are many adults today who never had the opportunity to learn when they were young.

Adventure Aberdeen provided the instructor and the Dr Bike while Aberdeen Cycle Forum was able to pay the costs using funding from Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival, Paths for All, and the fundraising we did for our Reclaim the Streets event which got cancelled due to the pandemic.

The next set of lessons and Dr. Bike will be at Hazlehead Park on the 12th September. The lessons are already all fully booked up but subscribe to our blog so you’ll be notified if we add some more.

Cycling lessons for adults and Dr Bike

August 16, 2020 by Rachel M, posted in event

We’ve come to the realisation that our Reclaim the Streets event probably won’t be able to go ahead in October and maybe not even in March next year. Many of us cycle for health reasons and it’s therefore extra important for us to ensure the health of all our members so we want to do everything we can to reduce the spread of the virus which means gatherings of hundreds maybe thousdands of people at this time is not advisable. However, we’ve managed to do some great fund-raising for this event and we decided we could adapt it and run many events on a much smaller scale.

Starting at the end of August (provided COVID restrictions allow), we’re going to start the first of our adult cycling lessons. Every second Saturday for three weeks we’ll have a beginner cycling lesson followed by a refresher lesson. At the same time there’ll be a Dr Bike available for people who have old dusty bikes in the shed that need attention. Due to the pandemic these lessons will be capped at four people each so if you’re interested you must reserve a ticket to guarantee your place. Tickets are free and available at the links below.

Saturday 29th August at Duthie Park
Beginner cycling lesson 9:30am – 11:00am
Refresher cycling lesson 11:00am – 12:30pm

Saturday 12th September at Hazlehead Park
Beginner cycling lesson 9:30am – 11:00am
Refresher cycling lesson 11:00am – 12:30pm

Saturday 26th September at Seaton Park
Beginner cycling lesson 9:30am – 11:00am
Refresher cycling lesson 11:00am – 12:30pm

Bikability instructors from Adventure Aberdeen will be conducting the lessons which are for adults only. We can also provide bikes and helmets for people who don’t have one. Just let us know when you reserve a ticket.

Reclaim the Streets will be postponed

March 21, 2020 by Rachel M, posted in event

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that the Reclaim the Streets event we had planned for May 2020 will no longer happen on that day due to the current pandemic. However, we have raised lots of funding from various sources and the need for cycling infrastructure in Aberdeen is not going to go away so we very much still want to hold the event just as soon as the situation allows. We have been in discussions with the council about this and have penciled in October 4th 2020; if public events are still banned at that time then as a contingency we have also asked for March 28th 2021. Neither date is confirmed at this time but we will work towards this for now while having the flexibility to change it again if needed. Cycling is more important now than ever. All team sports and physical contact between groups of people are banned but yesterday the deputy chief medical officer made a point of encouraging exercise for health and wellbeing with a specific mention that cycling is ok for adults and children, provided people use their own equipment and take all the usual precautions like hand-washing. Stay safe and keep cycling!