Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department’s publication Road Traffic Estimates: Great Britain 2015, published on 19 May 2016, page 17, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the reported decline in cycling miles between 2014 and 2015.

Mr Robert Goodwill

These figures show that the number of miles cycled is higher than two years ago and the broad trend is a steady increase. Single year comparisons don’t always tell the full story. They can be affected by a number of factors including how the statistics are measured (whether cyclists were on the road or a cycle path for a particular segment of their journey), weather or even topical events (such as the Tour de France, which may explain the significant spike in 2014). The Government remains committed to increasing cycling and doubling the number of journeys. On 27 March the Government published its first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in draft. The final Strategy will be published in the summer.