The number of cyclists in central London during rush hour will soon overtake the number of car drivers, according to new Transport for London (TfL) figures.
The figures, published as part of the Travel in London report, show that the number of car drivers entering central London in the weekday morning peak in 2014 had decreased by more than a half from the year 2000 (137,000 to 64,000), while the number of cyclists trebled from 12,000 to 36,000 over the same period.
The report also highlights that over the last 15 years London has experienced strong growth in public transport, walking and cycling, with a trend of falling car use, despite increasing population.
Since 2000, London has achieved a net shift of 11% away from private transport, principally the car, towards public transport, walking and cycling – a feat which TfL describes as ‘unprecedented in any major city’.
Cycling levels increased by 10.3% between 2013 and 2014, while there were 6.4m ‘walk-all-the-way’ trips made on an average day in London in 2014 – an increase of 9.3% since 2008.
The report also reveals that levels of road traffic in London have fallen for most of the last decade, but have shown signs of increasing again over the last two years.
Taking the period from 2008 to 2014, the net decline has been 7.5% in central London, 9.3% in inner London, and 0.4% in outer London, equating to an overall reduction of 3.1% at the Greater London level.
TfL says that this fall in road traffic can been attributed to a much-improved public transport offering, various wider societal changes affecting car ownership and use, and reductions to available road network capacity.