Dame Sarah Storey's mission to get Greater Manchester “walking, wheeling and cycling" in Bee Network vision

Back home in Greater Manchester, the celebrated athlete also has the job of Active Travel Commissioner, working alongside Mayor Andy Burnham to improve the Bee Network transport system and encourage more people to use it.

Having been in the role for two and half years, Dame Sarah has seen in a lot of changes, including the big launch of the integrated London-style Bee Network system just last year.

She said: “The whole transport system has just been evolving and my role within that gets broader as more modes are part of the Bee Network, we have to make sure we're integrating those modes.”

The term active travel can be summarised with three important words: “walking, wheeling and cycling.” And the long-term ambition of the Bee Network is to make sure that 96% residents in Greater Manchester have access to Bee Network public transport within 400m of their homes. This means improving accessibility and safety, with features such as tap-in payments for all modes of transport and widening bike lanes to accommodate different kinds of cycles.

While there are a great number of environmental benefits to increasing active travel rates, there are also important health benefits. Dame Sarah told ManchesterWorld: “Everybody walks at some point during their day and if they can walk a little bit further because its more convenient and it feels safe enough, then they're going to feel better. We know that a good walk is a great way of getting some exercise.

“Some people don't feel confident enough to do that for health reasons because they don't feel fit enough, but there's so many personal benefits and the more people can spend time outside, enjoying those endorphins of physically moving, raising your heart rate a little bit, then it massively improves your health outcomes.”

But in order to do that, the proper infrastructure needs to be in place. Dame Sarah said: “At the moment, so many people don't genuinely feel that they do have a choice if public transport isn't within easy access of their front door, if they don't have access to a cycle, if they don't feel that they're capable of walking, or they don't feel safe enough to walk the journey that they would otherwise do to the shops.

“The ambition of the Bee Network is that everybody, or 96% of people, will live within 400m of the Bee Network, and that's the long term goal, and it will have the opportunity for people to make multi-modal journeys with ease.”

Dame Sarah believes that her work in promoting active travel goes hand-in-hand with her sporting career. She understands better than most the positive impact simply getting out for a walk or cycle can have on people and, in turn, the wider community.

She said: “If they're generally healthier and happier, then that helps them in other parts of their lives, and their ability to work, the productivity of the workforce, the ability of children to attain an education. All of those things can start with just first step or wheel out the front door of your house in the morning.”