Seven out of ten people never ride a bicycle, a new government survey on attitudes towards travel has found, which also revealed that safer roads – rather than the introduction of new cycling-specific infrastructure – would encourage more people to cycle on a regular basis.
According to the National Travel Attitudes Study (NTAS), which collected responses from 2,011 individuals aged 16 and over in England and was published yesterday by the government, general safety concerns were also cited as the primary reason for discouraging cycling, along with poor weather and travel distances.
However, when asked if they would be more likely to cycle, or cycle more, if new bike lanes were introduced in their area, only 29 per cent of respondents claimed that building new infrastructure would make them more likely to ride a bike, compared to 44 per cent who reckoned such an outcome would be unlikely (while 11 per cent, notably, believe that their area already has enough cycle lanes).
Middle aged, middle class, and middle of the road?
When it comes to discerning what kind of person actually rides a bike, the National Travel Attitudes Survey unfortunately won’t do much to dispel the tabloid-fuelled notion that a large proportion of cyclists are well-off MAMILs.
Of the survey’s 2,011 respondents, 39 per cent of people aged 16 and over own a bicycle or have access to one, a figure comparable to the 2022 Walking and Cycling statistics release which found that 43 per cent of people aged five or over are able to jump on a bike.
Drilling down into the demographics of those who own a bike, the results echo socialist Eamonn McCann’s denunciation of nationalist reformers in 1960s Northern Ireland (a famous quote alluded to in the above subtitle and not, of course, a reference to road positioning), with cyclists more likely to be located firmly in the middle-class and middle-aged classifications.
According to the survey, 48 per cent of respondents aged 40 to 59 have regular use of a bicycle, compared to 43 per cent of those aged 16 to 39, 39 per cent of those in their 60s, and 16 per cent of anyone aged 70 or older.
The stereotype appears even harsher when assessing household income. In households where the average annual income is less than £15,000, only 25 per cent of people have access to a bike. This figure rises to 35 per cent for those earning a household income of £15,000 to £35,000, before jumping to 48 and 50 per cent for those earning £35,000 to £50,000 and £50,000 or more, respectively.
How often do people cycle?
With only 39 per cent of respondents having access to a bicycle, it’s perhaps no surprise that 70 per cent say that in an average week they never travel by bike. On the other hand, 18 per cent say they cycle for travel at least once a month, with just seven per cent revealing that they have never experienced the joy of riding a bike.
93 per cent, meanwhile, say they have never used an e-bike rental scheme, though two per cent of respondents say they avail of hire bike initiatives at least once a month.
When asked how confident they feel when riding a bike, 56 per cent said they were either fairly or totally confident, compared to 36 per cent who said they were not very or not at all confident when riding a bike (with those who lack confidence jumping dramatically over the age of 70).
So what factors help encourage or discourage cycling?
While the introduction of cycling infrastructure and bike lanes has become a central part of the active travel agenda over the past decade, it’s perhaps noticeable that, at least in the government’s latest survey, cycle lanes aren’t viewed as a panacea for getting more people to ride bikes.
According to the study, only 29 per cent said that they would be likely to cycle, or cycle more, if more bike lanes were introduced in their area. This number was slightly higher in urban areas, though 42 per cent of town and city dwellers said they would be unlikely to take up cycling thanks to the presence of new bike lanes. 12 per cent of respondents also believe that their town or city “already has enough cycle lanes”.
In rural areas, perhaps unsurprisingly, the percentage of those who wouldn’t be swayed by fresh new infrastructure is 53 per cent.
The survey’s findings on cycle lanes, incidentally, echo the recent work of Malmö University researcher Zahra Hamidi, whose study on attitudes towards cycling suggested that building more cycle lanes is just one part of the equation to get more people cycling, but it is not sufficient on its own to achieve that goal.
Meanwhile, safer roads were instead cited as the factor that would encourage the largest proportion of people to cycle, or cycle more, with 61 per cent of respondents choosing this option (including roughly two thirds of those aged between 16 and 59).
Other factors, such as a clear gender dynamic, come into play when assessing the factors that would most encourage cycling. 57 per cent of men were inclined to agree that well-maintained road surfaces would be an encouragement, compared to 47 per cent of females who thought the same.
The roles, however, were reversed when it came to assessing the impact of cycle training for teaching both the fundamentals of riding a bike and boosting confidence, with 17 per cent of women agreeing that training would encourage them to cycle more, compared to 10 per cent of males.
When considering just those who cycle at least annually, women are more likely to be encouraged by the presence of off-road and protected cycle paths and lanes (76 per cent compared to 63 per cent of men surveyed), along with safer roads in general (78 per cent compared to 69 per cent).
Those findings support the recent study conducted by the London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Network, which found that 93 per cent of women have experienced dangerous and intimidatory driving while cycling, and that 88 per cent of women say they prefer cycling on protected cycle lanes or on low traffic routes, and that they rely on them for their journeys, refusing to ride their bike without them.
People from ethnic minority backgrounds, meanwhile – who despite being more likely to cycle “at least annually” make fewer cycle trips than their white counterparts – responded more favourably to every kind of encouragement to cycle than respondents on the whole, with 74 per cent agreeing that safer roads were key to encouraging cycling.
Individuals from white backgrounds were also notably much less likely to be encouraged by cycling training, better bike hire facilities, and the opportunity to buy or hire cheaper bicycles than those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Finally, when asked what reasons they gave for choosing not to ride a bike, or for not cycling more, 48 per cent of respondents said they were concerned about safety (with 51 per cent of females citing safety concerns, compared to 45 per cent of males).
29 per cent of females also said they didn’t feel confident enough in their cycling skills (compared to just 12 per cent of men), while 32 per cent of women surveyed – and 28 per cent overall – said having children, passengers, or too much to carry prevented them from cycling regularly.
36 per cent also said that poor weather stopped them from riding a bike, while a third of respondents claimed to live too far away “from where I need to get to” to cycle. 35 per cent of those aged over 70 also noted a health condition that prevents them from cycling, while 27 per cent of the same demographic concluded that “cycling is not for people like me”, a view shared by 12 per cent of the survey’s 2,000-odd respondents.