The new Scotland bike navigation system to help nervous cyclists find safe routes to ride

Innovative cycling navigation is being developed in Scotland to encourage more people to ride by directing them to the safest route for their journey.

It involves the creation of a city network of colour-coded routes displayed like the London Underground map, with cyclists guided by colours attached to lamp posts.

The Scotsman’s Transport Correspondent Alastair Dalton on a shared cycle/pedestrian path in Glasgow | John Devlin/The Scotsman

University of Strathclyde-based company Orchy hopes its MARKED: Wayfinding System will bridge the disconnect between most people knowing how to ride a bike, but few using one to get around.

How MARKED’s colour-coded map of safe cycle routes in Edinburgh might look | Orchy/MARKED

It said the system could also help overcome the widespread fear of cycling in cities by enabling riders to find segregated lanes and off-road paths.

These can be difficult to find and are often not included in popular navigation systems such as Google Maps, with which MARKED could be integrated in the future.

Alastair Dalton on The Avenues segregated cycle lanes on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow city centre | John Devlin/The Scotsman

While major new cycle routes may be obvious, such as the City Centre West East Link between Roseburn and Leith Walk in Edinburgh, and the Avenues project in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow city centre, links to get to them can be hard to spot without a dedicated map.

The hidden Glasgow cut-through between the west end and city centre beside the M8 is shown in orange at the top left corner of the map | Orchy/MARKED

These include cut-through paths such as those in Glasgow, which provide a link between the west end and city centre by skirting beside and under the M8 near St George’s Cross, avoiding busy Great Western Road.

However, one of the only detailed Glasgow cycle maps available, produced by the Lothian cycle campaign Spokes, is out of date and out of print, with no plans for an update. Spokes still produces maps for Edinburgh, Midlothian and East and West Lothian.

Orchy is initially working on a version of its system in Portugal, for Vila Nova de Gaia in Porto, but is also looking to develop it for Scottish cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Subscribe to Alastair Dalton’s weekly Transport newsletter

Operations director Garance Locatelli said: “Most of us used to cycle when we were kids, yet 66 per cent of UK adults think it’s too dangerous to cycle on the road.

“[A total of] 90 per cent of women fear urban cycling and only 2 per cent of journey are done by bike. There’s a disconnect between people knowing how to ride a bike and people using it as a form of transport.

“The bike navigation system points riders to a safe network. It combines digital navigation with on-street colour-coded wayfinding. The routes are represented by coloured lines, just like in subway systems, making cycling simple and safe.

“We are identifying the safest routes and creating a network to which we will push cyclists to use.”

Mark Smith, the company’s managing director, said inspiring confidence in people who were new to cycling was key.

He said: “It is all about how you make people feel safe when they are cycling, and if there are safe options, how you make that process as simple as possible. So if someone wants to pick up cycling for the first time, it’s really easy.”

Mr Smith said he often had to try a variety of options five or six times before finding a good route for a specific journey - but other people just starting out on a bike might not have such perseverance.

He said: “When it comes to behaviour change, another person is not going to do that. They are going to go out on a bike once, see a busy road and go back in the house.“

But he said making cyclists more aware of existing, hidden routes was much more cost effective than large-scale spending on new lanes.

He said the colour-coded markers would be a “low cost, low maintenance way of highlighting these hidden gems which are harder to navigate unless you’ve done them, before instead of having to build big, protected cycle infrastructure”.

Mr Smith said the system would operate by riders planning routes using MARKED’s digital maps on their phone, then following the coloured markers.

He said: “No navigation app alone will improve cycling and that feeling of safety. It has to be carried on with physical infrastructure.

“The key things for us is cities should have maps of the active travel [cycling, walking and wheeling] network that are coherent and have wayfinding across them.”

The company received initial development funding from the university, and was awarded a £45,000 transport research and innovation grant by the UK Department for Transport last week.

UK transport minister Mike Kane said: "Innovation is the driving force behind our transport system and these winning projects are leading the charge by creating cutting-edge solutions that could offer so much benefit for all.”

Gregory Kinsman-Chauvet, founder of Glasgow-based cycle supplier and trainer Bike for Good, said: “I find this idea inspiring, especially because cycle safety is a common challenge for new cyclists.

“Innovations that encourage potential cyclists to experience the joy of riding are incredibly valuable. I would like Bike for Good to begin testing this as soon as possible, particularly with our more vulnerable users.”

A spokesperson for Scottish Government-funded development body Cycling Scotland said: “Where networks of dedicated, safe cycle routes are being built, we’re seeing big growth in the number of people cycling.

“A system which helps people find safer, well-connected routes could potentially help them use cycling as a quick, low-cost, practical way of getting around.”

But Ian Maxwell, of Spokes, said: "Systems like this may help some people to find safer cycle routes, but the only way to make city streets truly safer is for councils to reverse the traffic priorities.

“Pedestrians, public transport users and cyclists should come first in city centres, and motor vehicles should be relegated to a subordinate position and a strict speed limit."

A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “We welcome any innovation that provides easily accessible information in support of a shift to more sustainable transport choices.

“There is a range of digital information currently available to assist with route planning for cycling in Glasgow, including on the council’s website. Cycling infrastructure in Glasgow is developing rapidly with the focus on creating safer, segregated routes as part of the creation of a city network for active travel.”