London lagging behind European cities on cycling infrastructure
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
Although London has some of the best cycling infrastructure in the UK it continues to lag behind European cities including The Hague and Paris, according to a new global survey.
London scored an average of 69 out of 100 in the PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings, though four of its boroughs — Hackney, Islington, Southwark and Westminster — all made the world top 20 when ranked individually.
Campaigners said Britain’s score showed how we had failed to pursue the Gear Change strategy, which sought to build on the increase in cycling during the pandemic by setting a target of “half of all journeys in towns and cities being cycled or walked by 2030”.
According to Transport for London, about 1.3 million weekday journeys in London are cycled — about a third of the number of Tube journeys — but this is less than five per cent of the
25.7 million journeys made each day in the capital. About 39 per cent of trips are walked. The survey put The Hague in first place on 89 points, followed by Paris and Brussels on 87 and Utrecht and Lyon on 86. Amsterdam was sixth with 85.
Cambridge was the top-ranked British city on 84, with Hackney and Islington on 82, Southwark on 80 and Westminster on 79. The US-based survey, which expanded for the first time to include the UK, also highlighted disparity in the capital, with outer London boroughs such as Bromley (52), Harrow (51), and Barnet (50) all scoring poorly.
Jenn Dice, of PeopleForBikes, said: “The data shows that while London has made incredible strides in recent years to improve biking, there is more work to be done.”