Cycle Nation Communities: Increasing Cycling in Glasgow

Official title

Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness of a Community-based Nine-week Multi-component Group-based Cycling Intervention Versus a Single Cycle Training Session to Increase Cycling Participation: the Cycle Nation Communities Randomised Controlled Trial

Overview

This randomised controlled trial will evaluate the effects of a 9-week multi-component group-based cycling programme (Cycle Nation) versus a standard single cycle training session on self-reported cycling, health and wellbeing outcomes. Participants are adults that do not regularly cycle, who will be randomly allocated to each arm of the study. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, post-programme, and at 12 months from baseline. Cost effectiveness will be assessed, and a process evaluation will be conducted.

Detailed description

Cycling improves physical and mental health, lowering risks of major diseases and reducing stress while enhancing wellbeing and fitness. It is a time-efficient way to increase physical activity and, when replacing motorised transport, reduces air pollution, carbon emissions, and traffic congestion. However, cycling participation in the UK remains low; only 10% of adults cycle at least weekly. This is a missed opportunity to enhance population health, lower health service costs, reduce environmental impact, and improve health related quality of life. Evidence suggests that over 50% of UK adults are interested in cycling more, therefore the potential to increase cycling is substantial.

Non-cyclists report numerous barriers, spanning the individual, social, and environmental factors of the socio-ecological model. While improvements to cycling infrastructure can address some environmental barriers, they alone are insufficient to drive substantial increases in cycling. While many organisations offer standard single or short-term cycling sessions, these often address isolated components rather than taking an integrated approach. In contrast, Cycle Nation is an integrated group-based 9-week multi-component intervention, targeting multiple individual and social barriers over a sustained period to maximise effectiveness.

Initially co-developed and piloted in collaboration with British Cycling and HSBC-UK as a workplace programme for employees, it has since been adapted for community settings in Manchester and Glasgow. Findings of these studies have demonstrated feasibility, acceptability, and short-term effectiveness. However, Cycle Nation has not yet been rigorously tested in a powered randomised controlled trial (RCT), nor had its long-term effectiveness or cost-effectiveness evaluated.

This is a pragmatic, two-arm RCT to assess the effect of the Cycle Nation programme in comparison to a single cycling training session. The interventions will be delivered by community-based cycling delivery partners across Glasgow, UK, with up to six organisations delivering the Cycle Nation programme (intervention) and one delivering the standard single introduction to road cycling session offered by Cycling Scotland (comparison).

The primary objective is to evaluate the effect of the Cycle Nation programme versus a standard single session on the proportion of participants cycling at least weekly at 12 months. Secondary objectives are to a) to evaluate the effect of the Cycle Nation programme versus a standard cycling session on self-reported health and wellbeing at 12 months, b) to evaluate the within-trial cost-effectiveness of the Cycle Nation programme at 12 months (and longer pending within trial findings), c) to assess how (well) Cycle Nation is delivered and examine how the core causal mechanisms function, and d) to determine how contextual factors contribute to variations in outcome and engagement with the Cycle Nation intervention.

Interventions

• Behavioral Cycle Nation
  Participants will be asked to attend nine weekly 90-minute face-to-face sessions, delivered by trained facilitators at community cycling organisations. Sessions include off road cycling skills and on-road group rides, behaviour change techniques (e.g. goal setting), and bicycle maintenance training. Two extra group rides will be offered during the programme for additional practice, along with two catch-up sessions at the end for those who missed any content. Participants will be added to a Whats
• Behavioral Cycling Scotland standard cycling session
  Participants will be asked to participate in Cycling Scotland's 'Introduction to On-Road Cycling' a single 2-2.5-hour session that is offered as standard. The session covers key cycling skills such as hazard awareness, road positioning, and communicating with other road users. Activities are tailored to participants' needs and may include navigating junctions, using shared infrastructure, and performing U-turns. Bicycles and helmets will be provided for the session.

Primary outcome measures

• Proportion of participants cycling (for any purpose) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 months follow-up]

Secondary outcome measures (12)

• Proportion of participants cycling (for any purpose) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks follow-up]
• Number of cycling journeys (for any purpose) [Time frame: From baseline to 12-weeks and 12-months follow-up]
• Number of cycling journeys (leisure) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Number of cycling journeys (commuting) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Number of cycling journeys (errands) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Total duration of weekly cycling (for any purpose) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Total duration of weekly cycling (leisure) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Total duration of weekly cycling (commuting) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Total duration of weekly cycling (errands) [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Number of private car journeys [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Number of taxi journeys [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]
• Total duration of taxi journeys [Time frame: From baseline to 12 weeks and 12 months follow-up]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

Can ride a bicycle Self-identified infrequent cyclists (currently cycle less than once per month) Aged 18 years or over Willing to provide informed consent Willing to partake in measurements Willing to be randomised to intervention or control arm Have a good understanding of the English language Not have a contraindication to moderate intensity physical activity as assessed by the adapted Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire-Plus (PAR-Q+) Able to attend in-person sessions (at least 6 out of 9 sessions) Intend to still be in the UK by November 2026

Exclusion criteria

Cannot cycle (i.e. cannot balance and/or have never learnt to cycle) Frequent or regular cyclists (i.e. currently cycle at least once a month, confident riding on roads) Less than 18 years old Not willing to provide informed consent Not willing to partake in measurements Not willing to be randomised to the intervention or control arm Cannot speak basic English Have a contraindication to moderate intensity physical activity as assessed by the adapted Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire-Plus (PAR-Q+) Not able to attend in-person sessions (less than 6 out of 9 sessions) Not intending to still be in the UK by November 2026

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Single blind

Primary purpose

Other

Study locations

United Kingdom · 1 center

• University of Glasgow — Glasgow

Publications

• Connell H, Logan G, Somers C, Baker G, Broadfield S, Bunn C, Harper LD, Kelly P, McIntosh E, Pell JP, Puttnam J, Robson S, Gill JMR, Gray CM. Development and optimisation of a multi-component workplace intervention to increase cycling for the Cycle Nation Project. Front Sports Act Living. 2022 Oct 26;4:857554. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2022.857554. eCollection 2022. PMID 36385778
• Kelly P, Williamson C, Baker G, Davis A, Broadfield S, Coles A, Connell H, Logan G, Pell JP, Gray CM, Gill JM; Cycle Nation Project. Beyond cycle lanes and large-scale infrastructure: a scoping review of initiatives that groups and organisations can implement to promote cycling for the Cycle Nation Project. Br J Sports Med. 2020 Dec;54(23):1405-1415. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101447. Epub 2020 Ap PMID 32269057
• Lawlor ER, Gabler Trisotti MF, McIntosh E, McConnachie A, Gill JMR, Gray CM. Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a 9 week multi-component cycling programme versus an existing single cycling training session: protocol for the Cycle Nation Communities randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2026 Mar 3;16(3):e112768. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-112768. PMID 41775482

Identifiers

NCT: NCT07005674 · 200240325 · NE/W005042/1

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗