Q10: What’s cycling’s potential, and why is it such a good investment? Cycling has a lot going for it already, and its potential is massive. In Q1, we looked at why more cycling, as a convenient, inexpensive and healthy physical activity, could tackle lifethreatening conditions and save the NHS money. It’s also low carbon, zero emission, creates jobs and a proven, economically sound investment for public and private money. Yes, people do need to be encouraged, especially by creating safer road conditions: around two-thirds of the population think it’s too dangerous for them to cycle on the roads.50 But no one can say, even now, that it has no appeal, worth or potential, or that adequate funding and political will won’t help cycle trip figures rise from around 2% in the UK until they match the levels of other European countries, e.g. 27% of trips in The Netherlands, 16% in Denmark and 12% in Germany. 51
Mass appeal Already, fun or fitness makes cycling a particularly popular activity for people aged 16 or over, more so than swimming and team sports; and it’s one of the ten most listed most prevalent activities for children aged 5-16 (about a quarter of them said, when asked, that they’d ridden their bikes over the last week).52 Cycle commuting is already flourishing in London, where the congestion charge, public hire bikes, segregated cycle lanes and other incentives have unlocked much suppressed demand. Around six times as many people cycled across the central cordon in 2019 than in 1977 – 168,000 compared to 27,000.53 Even during the pandemic
DfT. National Travel Attitudes Study. Table NTASA101a. This figure is for England, but it more or less matches the results of earlier, GB-wide surveys that asked the same question for years. 51 See Q15 of Cycling UK’s Cycling Statistics 52 Relates to England. Sport England. Active Lives surveys, 2020-21 53 Transport for London. Travel in London Reports 12 & 14. 50
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