Official Statistics

Cycling traffic index, England

Updated 25 April 2024

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cycling-index-england/cycling-index-england

About this release

This statistical release presents an estimate for changes in cycling traffic levels in England, up to December 2023. These statistics are produced from the Department for Transport (DfT) automatic traffic cycle counters (ATCs). These are Official Statistics. For more information, see the about these statistics section.

The index is provisional for the latest year until after it has been constrained by the final annual estimates. Please see the background section for more information.

Future publication dates will be announced in advance on DfT’s statistical release calendar.

Please see the accompanying frequently asked questions for further details.

Cycling is defined as any cycling journey taking place on the public highway and the paths next to them.

Motor traffic refers to road traffic by all vehicles except for pedal cycles.

Main findings

The data is published as a rolling annual index, referenced to a 2013 baseline, from the date which consistent data is available.

In the year ending December 2023, the latest provisional data shows that:

  • cycling traffic levels have decreased by 2.9% since the previous year (December 2022)

  • cycling traffic levels have increased by 0.3% compared to the previous month (November 2023)

Cycling traffic levels have increased by 15.5% since December 2013.

Cycling traffic peaked in March 2021 during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (Chart 1), increasing by 62.7% from December 2013. COVID-19 restrictions were still in place during this peak and will have impacted travel patterns across England.

Cycling traffic levels have been decreasing since the peak in March 2021, falling by 29.0% between March 2021 and December 2023 but remain 3.6% above pre-pandemic levels (December 2019).

Table 1: Summary of changes in cycling traffic levels in the year ending December 2023

Change from Last month Last year Pre-pandemic 5 years ago
Year ending November 2023 December 2022 December 2019 December 2018
Percentage change 0.3% -2.9% 3.6% 5.6%

Data for 2023 are provisional until publication of the final annual road traffic estimates.

Chart 1: Cycling traffic levels in England, to December 2023

The cycling traffic index is produced using a rolling annual index. Due to this, data between February 2022 and February 2023 continued to be affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic following the end of the legal restriction period.

Find the related data shown in this chart on the cycling index statistics page.

What can this data be used for?

The data can be used to:

  • estimate cycling traffic levels in England against a baseline level in 2013

  • compare cycling traffic levels in England against a previous year or a previous month

  • compare changes in cycling traffic levels to changes in levels of motor vehicle traffic

  • assess longer-term trends in cycling traffic levels (for example, an increase in cycling traffic levels compared to 2015)

  • analyse changes in cycling traffic levels beyond those caused by factors such as the weather

This data cannot be used:

  • to estimate the total number or volume of people cycling in England

  • as a comparator with other data sources published on active travel

  • to compare with other countries or across local authorities in the UK

  • to understand reasons why cycling traffic levels have increased or decreased over certain time periods (with the exception of COVID-19)

Background information

This statistical series has been developed by DfT to allow robust, long-term monitoring of cycling traffic trends in England. This index replaces the cycling series published as part of the domestic transport usage by mode. Further details on this statistical release and the difference from the previous series can be found in the accompanying frequently answered questions document.

This monthly index is less impacted by factors that commonly influence cycling data, especially at a granular daily level, such as seasonality and weather, allowing us to look at changes beyond these factors. This is because numbers represent cycling during a 12 month ‘rolling annual’ period, helping to smooth out large differences between months caused by seasonality and weather impacts. This means it is easier to see changes caused by other factors, such as the large increase in cycling during the pandemic. The new methodology has been designed to be able to accommodate additional traffic sensor data from a wider range of locations and sources as they become available to the department.

Data source

Automatic Traffic Counters (ATCs)

Traffic flow data is collected continuously from DfT’s network of ATCs. In addition to counting road traffic in each direction, the ATCs record some physical properties of passing vehicles which are used to classify traffic by type, including cycles. ATCs operate across a range of road types and geographical regions, with the intended purpose to estimate traffic flow.

These ATCs are based on a nationally representative sample of the road network across Great Britain. The numbers of ATCs that contribute to estimating traffic flows has increased year-on-year to reflect the growing network of traffic counters that can now record cycling traffic levels. In 2023, around 160 cycling sensors were used to produce these statistics. The monthly cycling traffic index methodology is designed to deal with changes in the number of counters providing data. Therefore, changes in the index will reflect actual changes in cycling traffic levels rather than a change in the number of counters.

Annual road traffic estimates

The Department for Transport publishes annual estimates of road traffic in Great Britain. Road traffic estimates from the previous year are used alongside data collected from ATCs to calculate the provisional cycling traffic indices for the latest year. The latest annual statistics, and previous releases and further information on ATCs can be found on the road traffic statistics page.

Methodology

The provisional cycle traffic index for each month of the latest calendar year are derived by using data from the network of ATCs to measure the change in traffic in the given month compared to the equivalent in the previous calendar year. These figures are then multiplied by the previous year’s final annual estimates to create the provisional monthly index of cycle traffic changes across England.

Further information on the methodology used to produce traffic estimates can be found in the provisional road traffic statistics background quality report.

Data quality

Raw ATC data goes through an automatic and manual validation check. Flows that fail the validation test are removed and replacement values are imputed where necessary.

The cycling traffic indices for the most recent year are published as provisional until data is constrained by the final annual estimates calculated each year. In addition to the data from the ATCs used to produce these statistics, the final indices make use of data from around 8,000 manual traffic counts. Final annual statistics can estimate cycling traffic levels in regions and on specific road links, which cannot be produced from the provisional data.

The ATCs used as the data source in this publication classify vehicles based on the information captured by the sensors, such as vehicle length. This creates the possibility for misclassification of vehicles with atypical characteristics, meaning that provisional indices are less robust than the final indices. The classification algorithms are continually developed to ensure that vehicle classification is as accurate as possible. Due to the methodology used to produce the provisional cycling traffic index, figures are subject to revision. However, these revisions are typically minor and will not affect qualitative patterns in the data.

Accompanying cycling traffic index data table

The monthly cycling index table is available on the cycling traffic index statistics data page.

Frequently asked questions

Further details on this statistical series can be found in our accompanying frequently asked questions document.

About these statistics

These statistics are Official Statistics. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Further guidance on the methods used to compile these statistics can be found in the methodology section and the provisional road traffic statistics background quality report.

Further information about active travel statistics as well as other sources of data are available, including:

Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

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Contact details

Walking and cycling statistics

Email activetravel.stats@dft.gov.uk

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