Cycling is becoming more diverse in London according to TfL

By Joe Talora, local democracy reporter

Cycling is becoming more diverse in London with a wider range of people taking it up during the pandemic, according to TfL.

Recently published data shows for the first time Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Londoners are not significantly less likely to have cycled in the last 12 months than white Londoners.

Just 28 per cent of White Londoners said they had cycled in the past 12 months, compared to 24 per cent of Black Londoners, 25 per cent of Asian Londoners and 31 per cent of people from mixed backgrounds, research found.

In 2018, people from BAME backgrounds in London accounted for just 15 per cent of all cycle journeys made in the capital despite making up around 41 per cent of London’s population.

One in five people who don’t cycle also say they are now actively considering taking it up.

Men, 16- to 34-year-olds and BAME Londoners the most open to cycling.

But despite the improvements in diversity among ethnic groups, women alongside people on low incomes and over 55s were significantly less likely to have used a bike in the past year than men or medium and high-income households and other age groups.

While 34 per cent of men said they had cycled in the past year, the figure was only 20 per cent for women.

London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman has said “we know more work needs to be done” to improve accessibility for as many different groups as possible.

Mr Norman said: “It is encouraging to see from this report that change is starting to happen, with almost half of Black non-cyclists open to taking it up.

“However, we know more work needs to be done to get people from all backgrounds and communities cycling, which is why we have put in place new and upgraded cycle lanes across London, alongside many other measures to make it safer and easier for people to get around by bike.

“We will continue to engage with communities across the capital and invest in making cycling accessible to all.”

Fears around road safety was one of the most significant barriers to cycling for most people, with 82 per cent of respondents to the survey having said it was a concern.

Simon Munk, campaigns manager for the London Cycling Campaign, has said “we’ve still got a long way to go” to make cycling accessible for everyone.

Mr Munk said: “Diversity is improving, and TfL surveys and data seems to bear that out. There are still, to be very clear, loads of barriers to cycling in all sorts of different ways.

“We know that by far the biggest single barrier to more people cycling is fear of road conditions, aggressive driving, roads that are hostile.

“So, we’ve still got a long way to go just on the basic infrastructure on safe cycle routes and not feeling like you’re going to be killed at a junction, and that is hugely off-putting to a huge majority of people.

“But, according to research from the University of Westminster and others on the Near Miss Project, it is particularly off-putting to women and also People of Colour.”

He added there are “structural issues” that need to be addressed, such as certain areas of London that “aren’t moving as fast as others” in implementing cycling infrastructure as well as “all sorts of specific issues and barriers across London” that make cycling inaccessible to some groups.

But Mr Munk praised the work of groups such as Cycle Sisters and Joyriders which help underrepresented groups break down specific barriers to cycling.

Set up in Waltham Forest five years ago, Cycle Sisters is a group devoted to inspiring and enabling Muslim women to get into cycling.

Khadijah Zaidi, a ride leader for Cycle Sisters, said: “The TfL report highlights the need for a multi-faceted approach to improving diversity among cyclists.

“Although improvements to infrastructure are important and are demonstrated in their survey as the biggest factors that can improve cycling rates, there are many other factors which need to go hand-in-hand with these changes – such as having access to a bike, bike maintenance courses, and cycle training.”

As part of the push to increase take-up of cycling among different communities, British Cycling will later this year open the UK’s first “City Academy” hubs in Hackney and Newham.