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9 Sep 2024

Demand for bikes has soared following Britain’s strong performance in the Olympic cycling events in Paris, new research suggests.

3 Sep 2024

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has responded to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for August 2024. The report, which can be downloaded here, has highlighted: 

28 Aug 2024

Bikmo, a leading cycling insurtech, and the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT), the UK’s largest and most established cycle trade membership organisation, have announced they are entering...

28 Aug 2024

E-Bike Positive, a new initiative with support from across the cycling industry, is set to equip the public with the information needed to buy safe, ride safe and charge safe while promoting and...

28 Aug 2024

Cycling Weekly has reported independent bike shops across the country continuing the call for reform of the Cycle to Work schemes in their current format and encouraged the government to help...

28 Aug 2024

A £1.5m project to refurbish a walking and cycling route in Coventry has been completed.

28 Aug 2024

The Bira Conference - hosted by ACT's parent company - will take place on Wednesday 16th October at One Great George Street, London.

28 Aug 2024

A Norwich cycle shop is offering commuters the chance to turn their regular pedal bikes into high tech e-bikes.

28 Aug 2024

The transport secretary Louise Haigh has been urged to turn her recent statement that she wants ‘unprecedented levels’ of investment in cycling into firm spending commitments in the...

12 Aug 2024

The shortlisted nominees for the BikeBiz Awards 2024, in association with Push have been announced.

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Graph using DfT data shows biggest increase in cycling for two years

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

Mark Brown, guest writer for the ACT, has created a graph using DfT data that compares the use of different vehicles over the past two years, alongside an analysis.

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"It has been so hot these past few nights that I have not slept much. So, with some spare time on my hands in the wee small hours I put the latest Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom road traffic statistics into a graph.

It's an itch I've been wanting to scratch for a while. To see what's been happening to cycling and car use, since the cost of living increases over the last few months. And how this compares to the pandemic years.

This data is for England only. It compares with a pre-lockdown week in March 2020. Link to the data in the comments.

My thoughts:

Since February 2022 we have begun to see the biggest increase in cycling for two years, since March 2020.

That's not the usual start of the cycling season, which normally happens in late April after Easter.

From January 2022 to June 2022 the cost of a litre of unleaded petrol increased about 30%, from 145.5p to 190.1p. It's even higher now.

Bike shops continue to report that new bike sales remain very challenging. This growth in cycling is driven by existing bike owners. Perhaps a combination of regular riders cycling more, and others dusting-off bikes bought in the pandemic to use again.

Bike hire and share schemes must be doing well.

Not clear if this cycle use is for leisure, commuting or shopping trips etc.

Car use remains between 95%-97% of pre-pandemic levels. I read a report a few weeks ago which said road traffic was down more during the week, but went back up at the weekends.

With about 38m cars registered in the UK, even a small drop of a few percentage points means 1m cars not being driven.“

 

 

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