Year 28 - 2019/20

In late summer CCNB was privileged to visit the Bedford DryCycle company and test ride a four wheeled electric bike that had been exhibited at the Birmingham Bike Show. Unfortunately the project was abandoned in 2021.

The continued monitoring of the level of cycling showed a 2% drop at the railway station but a 20% drop in the town centre. The latter was believed to be due to the number of fines given out during the previous and current year for cycling through the pedestrianised area of the town centre.

As a result of the abandoning of the Bedford Cycle Strategy Group only one short one-to-one meeting with the Borough occurred during the year.

This was concerning at a time when the change to sustainable transport from pollution emitting motor vehicles was gathering pace all over the UK as well as the rest of the world to make towns and cities more clean, accessible, viable and safe to help reduce climate change and improve residents' health. In March (2020) CCNB Chair gave a presentation to 40-50 members of Bedford Climate Change Forum (BCCF) on ‘Cycling and Climate Change

One week later the government introduced a total UK lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic claiming an increasing number of victims.