An outline of the methodology and results of baseline monitoring of the National Walking and Cycling Network (NWCN) in Scotland published in August 2017, delivered in partnership by Scottish Natural Heritage, Sustrans and Scottish Canals. This monitoring exercise has included an online public survey, a business survey, route user surveys, manual counts and automatic counter data from across the network, providing a comprehensive understanding of network usage and its impact. An estimated 8,764,020 trips occurred on the network in 2016. 86% of trips are expected to be for recreational purposes. These recreational trips are estimated to generate £84,934,795 of tourism-related expenditure in the local economy. 90% of the Scottish public who responded to the survey are aware of the existence of a network of walking and cycling paths and routes and use this to access the outdoors for both purposeful travel and recreation. Active travel for leisure emerged as a primary motivator for using the network – with 18.2% reporting they use walking and cycling routes for leisure walking and 15.9% of respondents using it for leisure cycling.
Outdoor Recreation Network > Other Publications > Monitoring the National Walking and Cycling Network in Scotland by Anjali Badloe, Senior Evaluation Officer and Sam Denis, Sustrans