At the start of September 2025, London experienced an extraordinary surge in cycling activity, triggered by a series of tube strikes that disrupted the city's usual transport flow. For five days, Londoners turned en masse to alternative modes of transport, with cycling notably gaining traction. The rental e-bike company Lime recorded a 74% increase in trips during this time, with journeys being 40% longer and covering 35% further distances than usual. These figures underscore how Londoners are adapting to public transport challenges by embracing active travel modes, particularly e-bikes.
London ranks highly among UK cities for cycling, alongside Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, Milton Keynes, and Brighton. However, despite these urban centres making strides, the UK overall considerably trails behind countries like the Netherlands and France in cycling uptake and infrastructure quality. Whereas only about 2% of journeys in the UK are made by bike, in the Netherlands that figure is approximately 27%, reflecting a profoundly different relationship with cycling.
The Netherlands is widely regarded as the cycling capital of the world, thanks to a robust, well-planned infrastructure that makes cycling a safe and convenient choice. The country boasts 25 superhighways dedicated to cycling, many featuring separate lanes with their own traffic light systems, ensuring cyclists are protected from motor vehicle traffic. Notable infrastructure such as the suspended cycling roundabout in Eindhoven and the Pieter Smit Bridge in Groningen—one of the longest cycling and walking bridges globally—illustrate a national commitment to integrating cycling into everyday urban design. Employers also incentivise cycling through tax-free mileage allowances, further embedding cycling into daily life.
France offers another instructive example. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which significantly reduced public transport use, the French government swiftly repurposed road space to create temporary cycle lanes and encouraged cycling through training programmes and bike maintenance vouchers. This proactive approach led to significant gains, such as a 27% increase in cycling in Paris during the pandemic year, a trend that has persisted.
Safety remains a critical barrier to cycling growth in the UK. In 2023, fatal and serious injuries among pedal cyclists remained high, with 87 deaths and nearly 4,000 serious injuries reported in Great Britain. The predominant cause was drivers failing to notice cyclists, highlighting the urgent need for improved driver awareness and stricter accountability measures. Dame Sarah Storey OBE, a renowned cycling Paralympian, emphasises that driving should be treated as a privilege, not a right, and vulnerable road users must be prioritised by policymakers to reduce harm.
The construction industry also plays a vital role in road safety for cyclists. Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), often involved in fatal collisions with cyclists, present particular dangers due to their large blind spots. Engineering consultant Kate Cairns underscores the importance of adopting rigorous risk management processes akin to those used onsite at construction projects. Initiatives like the Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) standard are designed to extend safety responsibilities beyond construction sites to roads. In London, the Direct Vision Standard restricts lorries with poor visibility from the city and has contributed to a 62% reduction in fatal collisions involving these vehicles.
Despite these efforts, much of the UK’s infrastructure remains unfit for widespread cycling. The lack of dedicated walking and cycling lanes in and around cities keeps potential cyclists off the roads. Transport planning expert Phil Jones explains this as a vicious cycle: low numbers of cyclists lead to low demand for infrastructure investment, which in turn suppresses cycling participation. The average UK resident spends just six minutes per week on a bike, and cycling accounts for a mere 1% of all travel distances.
The UK government has recently signalled a stronger commitment to active travel. Its third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS3) includes £300 million to build 300 miles of new footpaths and cycle tracks, alongside £30 million to improve the National Cycling Network, which already connects over 10,000 miles of cyclist-friendly routes. In London, Transport for London (TfL) supports grassroots cycling efforts through the Walking and Cycling Grants London programme, which allocates funding to community and non-profit groups aiming to encourage active travel.
Active Travel England, launched in 2022, seeks to amplify these measures. In July 2025, it introduced an initiative involving primary school children as junior active travel inspectors. This scheme enables young people, parents, and teachers to assess the safety and accessibility of local walking and cycling routes, thereby informing future improvements to encourage safer active travel to schools.
The recent tube strikes' impact on cycling is a vivid reminder of the latent demand for better transport alternatives in London. Data from various sources confirms a spike in cycling during these disruptions: Lime reported a more than 50% increase in rush hour trips early in the strike, rising to 74% by midweek, and a 58% increase in morning peak trips during the strike’s second day. These figures align with Lime's ongoing expansion plans, including ambitions to operate e-bike services in all 33 London boroughs. As of September 2025, Lime operates in 17 boroughs and is working to lift restrictions in areas like Hounslow, where their e-bike scheme already boasts over 23,000 active users. Average trip lengths in Hounslow suggest commuters favour e-bikes for short-distance travelling within borough limits.
Yet, when comparing cycling infrastructure, London's provision remains limited. According to the Clean Cities Campaign’s 2025 City Ranking, Greater London dedicates just 8% of its road network to protected cycling infrastructure, contrasting starkly with Amsterdam’s 34%. This gap highlights the scale of the challenge facing London and the UK broadly—to transform cycling from a niche mode of transport to a mainstream, safe, and accessible choice.
The surge in cycling observed amid tube strikes suggests that improved infrastructure and supportive policies could coax more commuters onto bikes. The UK's experience during these disruptions offers valuable insights into how investment, safety improvements, and cultural shifts in driver behaviour could unlock cycling's potential as a mode of everyday urban transport. In striving to match the cycling-centric environments of the Netherlands and France, the UK must prioritise innovative, safe, and inclusive infrastructure that makes cycling a safe, convenient, and attractive option for all.
📌 Reference Map:
- [1] (Institution of Civil Engineers) - Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
- [2] (Reuters) - Paragraphs 1, 15
- [3] (Evening Standard) - Paragraphs 1, 15
- [4] (BikeRadar) - Paragraphs 1, 15
- [5] (Evening Standard) - Paragraph 15
- [6] (London Borough of Hounslow) - Paragraph 15
- [7] (Clean Cities Campaign) - Paragraph 16
Source: Noah Wire Services