THE head of Oxford cycling campaign group Cyclox said walking has more benefits than cycling if people are only travelling a mile.
Dr Alison Hill, chairwoman of the lobby group, made the comments regarding the use of dockless bikes in the city.
She said people travelling only a short distance would be better off health-wise walking to their destination instead.
Dr Hill added: “If your journey is about a mile walking is actually better for you in health terms than cycling - in terms of energy expended you will be using more walking.
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“That’s because the bike does so much of the work for you - you need to be travelling at 12mph or more to actually get a bit breathless but you won’t necessarily reach that speed over such a short distance in the city centre.”
Dr Hill said there was an ongoing campaign for more regulation regarding the use of dockless bikes in cities like Oxford.
She added: “There was a code of conduct for companies so there was a phased introduction but when they first arrived it did feel like a bit of a flood.
“If dockless bikes are really going to benefit the location population more of them should be available in residential areas or at the park-and-rides.”
Dr Hill said she hoped a bill would eventually go through Parliament to increase the regulation of dockless bike companies to prevent them from ‘dumping vast numbers of bikes’ in different cities.
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Earlier this year dockless bikes firm Ofo pulled out of London and other cities including Oxford, Norwich and Sheffield because it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Ofo launched in Oxford in 2017 but just over a year later it scaled back its operation saying it would only serve the city centre and surrounding area.
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The company was one of several Chinese cycle hire start-ups allowing riders to unlock GPS-enabled bikes with their smartphone.
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