Report - Glasgow Park to Park cycle 13.9.25

Outdoor air quality in Glasgow improved significantly in the 5 years from 2019 to 2024. Our ride celebrated that, while raising awareness that at current levels air pollution is still harming our health. What’s been achieved in the last 5 years shows improvement is possible. It’s now realistic to aim for lower, less harmful levels as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Health professionals on our ride included GPs, a public health consultant, paediatricians and other specialists from the Children’s Hospital. Thanks to recent improvements in active travel infrastructure (including completion of the South City Way), we could pedal from Kelvingrove Park to Queen’s Park almost completely on car-free routes. This was the first Glasgow Ride for Their Lives on which some of us brought our children (from 9 years up) – the cycle paths were ideal for them.

We were again joined by Bailie Martha Wardrop, councillor for Hillhead Ward and chair of the Economy, Housing, Transport and Regeneration City Policy Committee. Although unable to join us, we also received supportive messages from Angus Millar, councillor for Glasgow City Centre and Anderston and Convenor for Climate, Glasgow Green Deal, Transport and City Centre Recovery, and from Lana Reid-McConnell, councillor for Victoria Park and Chair of the Net Zero and Climate Progress Monitoring City Policy Committee.

The two main types of outdoor air pollutant that are monitored are

· Nitrogen dioxide gas. A major source is vehicle (especially diesel) exhausts

· Particulates, particularly those so small that from our lungs they get into the blood stream and then all round our bodies. PM2.5 is the name for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter.

o Recent UK figures showed about 20% of PM2.5 in our air comes from road transport: but it’s not from exhausts – it’s from tyre, brake and road wear

o Another 20% of the PM2.5 in our air comes from domestic burning – particularly from the burning of wood, which increased with the popularity of woodburning stoves.

On our ride we visited one of Glasgow’s 11 Automatic Air Quality Monitoring Stations (giving hourly, daily, monthly and yearly average readings for several pollutants), and one of the 121 diffusion tubes (providing annual mean levels of Nitrogen Dioxide).

· Thanks to full implementation of the Low Emission Zone, 2024 was the first year that annual mean nitrogen dioxide levels met Scottish objectives at all Glasgow monitoring sites, even in the city centre. Great news, but as health professionals we know that for nitrogen dioxide the Scottish objective annual mean level is 4 times what the WHO advises. Few Glasgow sites currently meet the WHO target.

· Scottish objective for PM2.5 is twice that of the WHO. PM2.5 is measured at 10 sites across Glasgow. 2024 levels were better than 2018, but still only one site

(Waulkmilglen reservoir) met the WHO objective. In 7 of the 10 sites mean level rose from 2023 to 2024, suggesting we may be starting to lose ground.

We were welcomed by reporter Ryan Catterson for an interview as we passed Go Radio - based right beside the South City Way on Pollokshaws Road. At Queen’s Park the rain had come on, but undaunted some of us stayed to join the Kidical Mass Glasgow ride.