London leads cycling in England but falls behind European counterparts

Campaigners behind City Ratings, a data analysis tool ranking global cities for how cycleable they are, have launched new data for 2022. This year, the data for cycling in England is focussed on London, Manchester, and the West Midlands.

Ratings draw from 2 key factors:

• The quality of the cycling network in a borough (Network Score)
• Community perceptions of cycling (Community Score).

The first is sourced from the PeopleForBikes Bicycle Network Analysis and the second from surveys with local residents.

What is City Ratings?

City Ratings is a ranking of cities’ cyclability by US advocacy group PeopleForBikes, which has been calculated annually since 2017. The aim of this data is to spotlight the best cities and towns for cycling, as well as provide city leaders with actionable insights to make cycling better in their communities.

51 London boroughs were rated, with the average Bicycle Network Analysis score for all boroughs being 42/100. Access to retail destinations scored best for all boroughs (average 55), whereas access to people (where people live) scored the worst (average 28). There are some significant differences between individual boroughs.

When it comes to overall ratings, London leads the way with 18 of the top 20 boroughs being within the capital. Two London boroughs featured in the top 20 internationally when compared with cities outside the UK. However, London continues to trail behind its European counterparts with an average score of just 49.8 compared to Paris’ score of 82.56 and Berlin’s of 77.75. Manchester has an average score of 30 and the West Midlands a score of 26.

London leads the way in England but falls behind in Europe 

In the global rankings, 3 countries fill the top ten positions. The Netherlands has 3 cities in the top ten including the number one spot: The Hague (88.97), Utrecht (84.05), and Amsterdam (82.8). Germany has 2 cities in the top ten, as does France and Belgium. The UK’s top city in the list is Edinburgh (sitting in 12th place). If it were a city, Hackney would rank 18th, however London as a whole ranks 47th, a drop of three places from the previous year but still making it the only English city in the top 50. Manchester’s Metro area ranks 53rd and Birmingham 56th.

When compared to international cities, 2 London boroughs are ranked among the top 20 overall. Hackney at 18th is one place behind Colombian capital city Bogota while Southwark completes the top 20. Bogota has made significant infrastructure improvements in the last two years, including making permanent the temporary ‘covid-lanes’ created to help reduce dependence on public transport during the pandemic.

Hackney leads all English boroughs surveyed with an overall rating score of 67.4, compared to the average of 49.8. This is likely due to the significant steps that the borough has taken in recent years, delivering high quality cycling infrastructure and measures to reduce traffic.

London is poised for cycling growth 

London scores 49.8 overall — achieving a score of 50 or higher tends to preface exponential growth in cycling which means we can be optimistic about the future of cycling in London.

According to PeopleForBikes, every ten points’ increase correlates to a linear growth in ridership. A score of 50 indicates there’s enough cycle infrastructure in place for more rapid cycling growth, a point at which ridership “breaks from a linear relationship to an exponential relationship.” At this point, cycling starts to become more convenient than driving.

Jenn Dice, PeopleForBikes president and CEO said: ‘’Building safe, connected bike networks is key to growing cycling worldwide, which is why PeopleForBikes created the City Ratings program.

We know that when people feel safe and comfortable riding a bike, they are more likely to cycle to everyday destinations like school, work, and the grocery store.

We are excited to see a growing commitment to cycling and building better bike networks throughout the United Kingdom.”