How can we persuade more people to cycle?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cycling is good for our health, good for the planet, and it can be an efficient way of moving around busy cities. But despite all the rational arguments for it, in most cities the number of people who get on their bikes is low.

CrowdScience listener Hans wants to know whether it’s time to change our tactics. Could we persuade more people to cycle if we moved away from focusing on well-intentioned rational arguments and use messages that appeal to our desires and vanity instead? What does the science say? Presenter Caroline Steel is on the case.

She meets Winnie Sambu from World Bicycle Relief to learn about why people in countries like Kenya to choose the bike to get around. She heads out on a ride with psychologist Professor Ian Walker from the University of Swansea to find out what barriers there might be to persuading people to cycle.

She also takes a lesson from one of the world’s top cycling nations as she talks to Marie Kåstrup, a cycling campaigns expert who has advised the Danish government on inspiring cycling and sustaining it in the city of Copenhagen. Also in Denmark, Caroline meets behavioural scientist Dr Pelle Guldborg Hansen who shares his experience in the art of persuasion.

Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Tom Bonnett Series Producer: Ben Motley

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.1	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs,
0:13.5	moments and movements, stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.1	And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music
0:21.7	means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.5	We were, are and always will be right there at the centre of the narrative.
0:28.6	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now
0:31.3	or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,
0:35.7	check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:40.6	Hi there. I'm Hans from Berlin. At the moment, the sun is shining and it's a really nice
0:49.1	cycle ride. Welcome to Crowd Science from the BBC World Service, the show that answers your science questions.
0:56.5	I'm Caroline Steele and this is listener hands, weaving his way through the busy streets of Berlin on his bicycle.
1:03.6	Cycling keeps me fit, improves my mood, keeps me lean and gives me a good feeling in general. I think that people miss out
1:15.8	when they don't use that wonderful invention bicycle. So Hans has been thinking about how
1:24.2	he can get more people to join him on his bike.
1:31.8	Once he was back home with two feet firmly on the ground, I gave him a call.
1:32.3	Hello.
1:33.7	Hi, hi.
1:35.5	What's your question for crowd science?
1:38.4	How can we make cycling more sexy and cool?
1:39.2	Why?
	...

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