Active travel
What is active travel?
Active travel is journeys made by modes of transport that are fully or partially people-powered. The purpose of the journey doesn’t matter.
It includes walking, people using wheelchairs, cycling (including e-bikes) and horse riding to name a just a few.
Our commitment to increasing active travel
We recognise the importance of active travel in supporting economic development, improving health, reducing car use and meeting our carbon goals for the climate emergency.
We are currently involved in various projects and collaborations which aim to increase and support active travel:
- Borders Greenway - a new long distance shared access path between Tweedbank and Eyemouth. Visit the Borders Greenway website for more details.
- Extending the active travel route from Peebles to Penicuik
- Maintaining the existing active travel network, including our multi-use paths network
- Partnership work with South of Scotland Enterprise to look for new opportunities for active travel to bring economic and community benefits for the area
- Supporting local partnerships, including Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBins), community groups and Cycling Scotland to name a few.
- Running a series of behaviour change projects across the Scottish Borders led by our Outdoor Education team
Active Travel Strategy
While continuing with those projects above, we are in the process of developing an Active Travel Strategy to support our continued active travel development.
This document, which will be subject to public consultation in summer of 2025, will form the structure by which we aim to increase active travel in the coming years. It will help provide a consistent and communicated approach to achieve maximum benefits for our residents and communities.
More information
More details of the strategy and ongoing projects will be added to our website in the coming months.
In the meantime, if you would like more information, or would like to get involved in shaping our Active Travel Strategy, please contact the team by email on activetravel@scotborders.gov.uk.