An examination of Dundee people’s walking and cycling habits is being welcomed by a senior councillor.
Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (formerly known as Sustrans), in partnership with Dundee City Council, has today published the Dundee Walking and Cycling Index, based on a survey carried out last year to capture local people's views on getting around their city by walking, wheeling and cycling.
The Index notes that since the last report in 2023, Dundee has made progress in several areas to make walking, wheeling and cycling more accessible to as many people as possible.
Multiple projects have been progressed and implemented city-wide, to ensure that people from all areas can benefit from improved active travel infrastructure and public spaces.
Projects highlighted within the report include:
- Completed construction on both the Bell Street Hub and the Broughty Ferry-Monifieth Active Travel Project
- Progressing design work on Sustainable Transport Corridors on both Lochee and Arbroath Road as well as Eden Connections, connecting Eden project with the City Centre, Waterfront and neighbouring areas
- Strathmartine Connections, creating new and improved active travel routes through the park connecting schools and the neighbourhood to the Green Circular and future active freeway on Macalpine Road
- Being one of the first local authorities in Scotland to be fully committed to enforcing new legislation banning pavement parking
- Union Street Transformation, which is fully pedestrianising a city centre street using an “exemplary” co-design process which has involved local stakeholders including the public.
Councillor Siobhan Tolland, depute convener of City Growth and Infrastructure, said: “This year's publication shows that there is a marked increase in people’s perceptions of safety, which mirrors our work on 20mph zones, enforcing the pavement parking ban, and expanding our School Streets programme,
“It highlights that 49% of residents now think cycling safety in their area is good; up 9% on 2023. Likewise, 71% of people think walking and wheeling safety in their local area is good; up 7%.
“These statistics are encouraging but they also highlight a significant difference between perceptions of safety for these modes of transport. This is mainly down to people feeling unsafe sharing the roads with vehicles, reinforced by the fact that more vulnerable groups cycle less.
“We are keen to build on the momentum that we’ve developed, and I’m pleased to see meaningful progress year on year. The Walking and Cycling Index continues to be an excellent way of benchmarking our progress.”
Fiona MacLeod, Director for Scotland, Cymru and Northern Ireland at Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, added: “This year’s Index delivers a clear and consistent message: people in Dundee want to walk, wheel and cycle more often. And they are supportive of improvements that would help them make these choices.
“As well as offering people healthier, fairer choices for their everyday journeys, the Index shows the broader impact of these improvements. Walking, wheeling and cycling in Dundee prevents almost 400 serious long-term health conditions each year, creates £127 million for the local economy, and saves 5,700 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
“All of this underlines the need for sustained investment and local leadership to keep making walking, wheeling and cycling possible for more people. We are delighted to continue working closely with Dundee City Council on this shared vision, backed by local people."
The Walking and Cycling Index is supported by funding from Transport Scotland.
The Dundee Walking and Cycling Index 2025 is available to view online here www.walkwheelcycletrust.org.uk/walking-cycling-index/dundee
About Walk Wheel Cycle Trust
Walk Wheel Cycle Trust (the new name for Sustrans) is the charity making it possible for everyone to walk, wheel and cycle.
We work directly with communities to make change happen. Then we evidence the impact to influence policies to push those changes further.
Because people powered movement changes everything. Our health. Our wellbeing. Our world.
Walk Wheel Cycle Trust is a registered charity in Scotland (SC039263), in England and Cymru (326550) and Republic of Ireland (20206824).
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
