A new Transport for London survey has revealed that Cycles account for more than 60% of all peak hour traffic on some roads.
According to TfL’s Central London Cycling Census, cycles make up almost half of all northbound traffic crossing Waterloo, Blackfriars and London Bridges and 62 per cent of all northbound morning traffic crossing Southwark bridge.
The Census also shows that 24 per cent of all vehicles at surveyed central London sites are bicycles which make up 16 per cent of traffic across the entire day (from 6am to 8pm).
The survey was conducted by manual counts at 164 locations in central London over a two-week period during April 2013. Bikes and all motor vehicles were counted between 6am and 8pm on weekdays.
TfL says cycling levels are likely to have increased since the research was conducted due to warmer weather.
Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s cycling commissioner for London, said: “These extraordinary figures show how enormous cycling already is in London and how urgent the task of catering for it properly has become.
“The simple numbers explain why the Mayor is investing £913m in a broad range of measures to support cycling, including the longest substantially-segregated urban cycleway in Europe.
Mr Gilligan added: “Cycling has often in the past been treated as niche or marginal. These figures show why the Mayor has stated that can no longer be the case, and that cycling must be treated as a core part of the transport network.”
