More big increases in cycling

[Earl Aelfheah]

More big increases in cycling in London... "Cycling journeys in the capital have increased by 43% over the past six years to 1.5 million a day": https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly02lljdero?app-referrer=deep-link

Edited Thursday at 21:22 by Earl Aelfheah

[Earl Aelfheah]

Particularly notable is the growth in inner London, which actually outstrips Central -  cycling is up 12.8 percent in central, 14.8 percent in inner London and 9.9 percent in outer London.

Cycling now accounts for nearly half of all tube journeys in London – up from a third in just a couple of years.

[Spartacus]

On 05/12/2025 at 09:18, Earl Aelfheah said:

Cycling now accounts for nearly half of all tube journeys in London – up from a third in just a couple of years.

WTF, are people cycling along the tube tracks now, causing delays to tube trains as they have to wait behind that one cyclist taking their time ? 

How bizarre 😅

[march46]

I think that stat is being taken a bit too literally here - no one’s suggesting cyclists are riding down tube tunnels. It’s just a comparison of overall journey volume. Joking aside, the real takeaway is that cycling levels are rising fastest in inner London, which has big implications for congestion, air quality and street design. That’s probably the more useful angle to discuss.

Edited 11 hours ago by march46

[Spartacus]

Whilst I was of course making fun of the wording, there is also an interesting point being made here that cycle lanes are slowing down buses 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/cycle-lanes-have-slowed-london-bus-journeys-says-transport-minister/ar-AA1RKMlc

 

Guess thete is a balance to be had where one form.of transport isn't penalised by another 

Edited 11 hours ago by Spartacus

[malumbu]

They have repurposed some former elevated railways to cycle lanes and ten years or so the concept of having cycle lanes in tunnels such as disused tube lines was proposed

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/feb/05/bike-paths-abandoned-tube-tunnels-london-underline

[DulvilleRes]

These are encouraging stats, and bear out the huge uptake in cycling I've been witnessing over the past couple of years. I had a situation recently in Kennington where there were so many cyclists waiting at the red cycle lane traffic light, that some at the back like me didn't actually get through when it turned green, and had to wait for the next phase. That just wouldn't have happened even 5 years ago. 

The stats really do put to bed some of the nonsense that has been spouted on these threads that cycle lanes are some extravagant waste of time, and that cycling hasn't increased as a result. Any of us properly out and about knew what was really happening. I think the cycle infrastructure has encouraged more cautious users onto the road, even in winter.