Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to revise his Department’s Road Traffic Forecasts to take account of the Government’s commitment to increase cycling and walking to 50 per cent of short journeys in towns and cities by 2030.

The Department regularly updates its Road Traffic Forecasts to provide a strategic view of how road travel demand may develop in future, with a focus on exploring the uncertainty around key drivers of demand. In planning future forecasts, consideration is given to relevant transport policies that may impact on road travel demand. The impact of the government’s walking and cycling commitments on motorised road traffic will be considered when the forecasts are next updated.

The forecasts are produced using the Department’s National Transport Model (NTM). To produce the forecasts, the NTM takes account of the travel choice between walking, cycling, rail and bus as well as car. However, the NTM is not designed to forecast cycling levels, which will be influenced by a range of factors not included in the model.