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9 Jul 2025

A recent BBC Breakfast segment has sparked backlash from the cycling community over its portrayal of e-bikes, with critics accusing the broadcaster of conflating legal e-bikes with illegal,...

8 Jul 2025

More than 30 locations across Scotland have seen a major rise in the number of people cycling, according to newly released data.

7 Jul 2025

Sixteen illegally upgraded e-bikes capable of speeds up to 40mph have been seized and disposed of in a joint enforcement operation in Birmingham city centre.

7 Jul 2025

Bristol-based Cytech training provider and ACT member Life Cycle has launched its award-winning Bikes Beyond Bars programme at HMP Bullingdon, expanding a project that has already impacted lives...

4 Jul 2025

New data from Strava reveals a major surge in cycling across the UK, with Gen Z and Millennials leading the charge.

3 Jul 2025

Shimano has launched an urgent investigation into what it describes as a “critical” shortage of skilled bike mechanics across Europe, warning that the situation threatens to...

2 Jul 2025

MPs have called on Amazon and eBay to tighten controls after e-bikes and chargers flagged as serious fire risks were found for sale on their platforms.

25 Jun 2025

The E-Bike Positive campaign has seen major success in the first half of 2025, with its message reaching nearly 8 million people across the UK through high-profile media coverage and growing...

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on...

20 Jun 2025

Activate Cycle Academy has reopened its Cytech training facility in Darlington, offering a full range of courses from Home Mechanic up to Cytech Technical Three.
 

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Drop in cycling traffic due to government's "flawed" decision to slash active travel budget, it is claimed.

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

New statistics showing a 5% fall in cycling from last year should be a “wake-up call for the government” and are due to the Government's "flawed" decision to slash the active travel budget, it has been claimed.

black and white picture of cycle

Cycling UK has called the latest findings "depressing” with the government lagging behind its target of doubling the number of cycling journeys by 2025.

The new figures were published by the Department for Transport (DfT). The decrease in cycling levels in England comes after the government decided to cut the active travel budget in March this year, described as a "backward move" by the Walking and Cycling Alliance at the time.

However, a recent inquiry by the National Audit Office into active travel in England confirmed Cycling UK’s claims that the government’s investment in active travel fell far short of what was needed to meet the 2025 walking and cycling targets – even before ministers made further cuts in March.

Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK said:  "These statistics should be wake up call for the government, which has already been told in crystal clear terms by the National Audit Office that it can’t meet its own targets without substantially increasing investment in active travel.

"Multiple government polices recognise the carbon reduction, public health, air pollution and economic benefits which flow from more people cycling and walking, particularly for short journeys. It’s therefore imperative that the government reflects on these figures, and urgently reverses the cuts in the Autumn Statement."

In July last year, the government announced that it will invest £3.78bn in active travel schemes until 2025 as part of its refreshed cycling and walking investment strategy.

Trudy Harrison, the minister formerly responsible for active travel, said that the increased funding was part of an "ambitious" strategy to ensure that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be walked or cycled by the end of the decade.

However, following the cuts, Cycling UK joined its partners in the Walking and Cycling Alliance and more than 146 other organisations, including Campaign for Better Transport and Asthma + Lung UK, to write to the prime minister highlighting the disproportionate level of cuts to funding for cycling and walking infrastructure.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also recently indicated a U-turn on his own government’s stated support for low traffic neighbourhoods, ironically one of the measures local authorities can implement to enable more people to walk and cycle safely, at a time when the government is slashing central funding because they are relatively cheap to introduce.

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