Cycling is a popular mode of transport and leisure activity within London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Following a national decline in the 1960s of levels of utility cycling, cycling as a mode of everyday transport within London began a slow regrowth in the 1970s. This continued until the beginning of the 21st century, when levels began to increase significantly—during the period from 2000 to 2012, the number of daily journeys made by bicycle in Greater London doubled to 580,000. and from 2012 to 2024 it doubled again to 1.3 million.TfL Travel in London 2024 https://content.tfl.gov.uk/travel-in-london-2024-annual-overview-acc.pdf This is partly attributed to the 2010 launch of a cycle hire system in Central London. By 2013, the scheme was attracting a monthly ridership of approximately 500,000, peaking at a million rides in July of that year. Health impact analyses have shown that London would benefit more from increased cycling and cycling infrastructure than other European cities.
Cycling conditions in the city have in recent years been perceived as unsafe by cyclists. A spate of cycling deaths in London occurred in November 2013, drawing criticism of TfL's cycle facilities and sparking protests and calls for safety improvements from politicians, cycling organisations and the media, as well as differing views on the extent to which poor cycling contributes to safety risks for both cyclists and other road users.
History 19th century
The popularity of cycling during the 19th century is in itself cyclical, consisting of several short periods of bicycle booms followed by a sharp decline in popularity.
Bicycles first made their way to London in 1818 via the carriage maker Denis Johnson, having imported and improved upon the original design by Karl von Drais, from which they acquired the name draisine, though its popularity among predominantly young male members of the aristocracy quickly gathered it the nickname 'dandy horse'. These designs lacked the pedals common to modern bicycles and were instead propelled by the action of the rider's feet on the ground. While briefly popular in the following years, slopes were challenging both to climb and descend, and riders were widely mocked in the streets and newspapers while the London College of Surgeons condemned the practice of cycling as dangerous. Its popularity soon fell out of fashion. In the following years a number of designs were proposed, tested, and built, attempting to remedy the drawbacks of the design, including tricycles and quadricycles, or the tandem bicycle. None gained widespread popularity.
It was not until the invention of the first 'true bicycles' in the 1860s, powered by the action of the rider's feet on two pedals driving a single wheel, did cycling gain significant popularity again. Originally called velocipedes, the lack of suspension, rough Victorian roads, and metal-rimmed tyres soon gathered them the nickname 'boneshakers'.
A further development was to move the rider directly above the forward wheel, allowing the rider to fully extend their leg with each cycle and thus deliver the most power, resulting in the ordinary bicycle, more commonly known as the penny-farthing. However, this made the machine dangerously unstable - in the event of an upset, the rider would likely be thrown forward over the handlebars. Consequently, its popularity lay predominantly among young middle and upper-class men who were more accepting of the risks. Older men, and women of all ages, preferred safer designs such as the tricycle, but the high cost conferred by the additional mechanical complexity meant that such machines were rarely seen. Among those who did ride, cycling developed as both a recreational and social activity, particularly among middle and upper class townsfolk taking advantage of their new machines to enjoy day trips through the nearby countryside. The village of Ripley, lying on the popular London to Winchester route, was declared "the Mecca of all good cyclists". Other popular destinations included Thames Ditton and Box Hill.
Some riders joined one of the many cycling clubs formed in this period. Club members would often ride together on shared excursions, often behind a recognised club Captain and his Lieutenants, with orders given by the club bugler or by whistle. Membership of such clubs could be exclusive, and the distinctive club uniforms conferred social opportunities even as a lone rider at the many rest stops.
The first recognisably modern bicycle, with equal-sized wheels and pedals driving the rear wheel via a chain mechanism, was the Rover safety bicycle of 1885. The invention of the pneumatic tyre in 1888 and the associated ride quality improvements only added to its popularity, triggering the third great bike boom which would last through the 1890s. First Battersea Park and then Hyde Park were popular with new cyclists seeking a space to learn to ride.
The introduction of the drop-frame bicycle in 1889, based on the design of the safety but without the crossbar between the rider's legs, allowed women to ride comfortably for the first time while wearing the long skirts typical of Victorian fashion. Cycling was one of the few activities a woman could take part in without a male chaperone, and while the bicycle changed how men took part in the same activities they had previously, for women the bicycle provided new opportunities and access to activities previously closed off to them, and from the image of women on bicycles enjoying their newfound freedom of movement outside the immediate proximity to the home emerged the image of the new woman. Several prominent feminist writers commented on the freedom the bicycle provided women and advocated others to take up riding. Susan Hamilton, Countess of Malmesbury, pronounced the sport "one of the greatest blessings given to modern women", and John Galsworthy would write the bicycle had "been responsible for more movement in manners and morals than anything since Charles the Second". Such changes did not come without significant pushback from more traditionalist factions. The female cyclist was seen as violating the separate spheres ideology prevalent at the time, and accused of attempting to become a man. Opposition ranged from satirical caricatures in the newspapers, to poor service provided at inns and cafes, to verbal and in some cases physical abuse directed at riders, including an instance of a meat hook thrown at a rider in Kilburn. Particular attention was directed towards riders dressed in rational dress, who rejected the traditional long skirts and corsets typical of Victorian women's fashion in favour of bloomers and other more practical forms of clothing especially suited to cycling. Despite the opposition, women continued to ride, with one in three bicycles ordered in 1895 placed by women.
20th century London's first segregated cycle track was introduced in 1934, between Hanger Lane and Greenford. Although the facility was well-used for cycling, segregation was opposed by cycling organisations at the time, fearing loss of rights to ride on the highway.
Beginning in the 1960s, Britain experienced a decline in levels of utility cycling due to the increasing wealth of its populace and greater affordability of motor vehicles; this in turn led to the favouring of vehicular traffic over other options by transportation planners. In 1977, the Conservative Party won the Greater London Council (GLC) election, and enacted policies that deprioritised spending on public transport.
In 1980 Ken Livingstone, at the time the Labour Party's transport spokesperson, made a promise to the London Cycling Campaign (LCC) that should Labour take control of the GLC they would spend more on the needs of cyclists. In May 1981, Labour won the GLC election, with Livingstone becoming GLC leader shortly afterwards. The following month, Livingstone announced that the GLC would accede to the LCC's demands, creating a cycling planning unit and spending at least 1% of the yearly transport budget, £2m, on cycling.
21st century
In 2000, Livingstone became the first elected Mayor of London, and in 2008 set a target of a 400% increase in cycling between 2008 and 2025. On 9 February 2008 Livingstone announced an estimated £400 million of initiatives to improve and increase cycling and walking, including thousands of new bike parking facilities at railway and tube stations. To be co-ordinated by the TfL and London boroughs, the aims include having one in ten Londoners making a round trip by bike each day and five per cent of all daily trips by bike by 2025.
In 2011 around 2.5 per cent of all commutes to work in London were by bike, though the figure was as high as 9% in Hackney. This compared to other cities in the United Kingdom such as Cardiff (4.3 per cent), York (18 per cent) and Cambridge (28 per cent of commutes) and to cities in mainland Europe such as Berlin (13 per cent), Munich (15 per cent), and Amsterdam (37 per cent of all journeys). The amount of growth has varied between regions within the city; on some routes such as Cheapside cyclists have been reported to comprise over half of rush-hour traffic.
Plans to construct twelve "Cycle Superhighway" routes were announced by Livingstone in 2008, connecting inner and outer London, as well as providing cycle zones around urban centres. Livingstone lost the subsequent mayoral election to Conservative Boris Johnson in May 2008, and the new mayor promised to continue to support cycling.
In July 2010, two pilot routes were implemented with Cycle Superhighway 3 (CS3) connecting Barking in East London with Tower Hill on the eastern perimeter of The City of London and Cycle Superhighway 7 (CS7) linking Colliers Wood in South London to Bank in the city. CS7 was criticised by rival cycling commentators and campaigners for relying on "blue paint" and bus lanes to protect cyclists from motor traffic, without using kerbed cycle tracks. CS3 was more popular, although critics argued that much of it had existed already, and had simply been rebranded as a Superhighway. Campaigners argued that the Mayor's rhetoric prior to launch had promised a much higher standard of cycling facility, yet the Superhighways encouraged cyclists on to busy main roads in conflict with buses and other motor traffic, with significant risk of being hit by left-turning vehicles at major junctions.
In July 2010, 6,000 bicycles became available for short-term rental from TfL under the Barclays Cycle Hire at 400 docking stations in nine central London boroughs. This was later expanded to 8,000 cycles from 570 stations, and is now branded Santander Cycles. The scheme, run by Montreal-based PBSC Urban Solutions, initially covered about 17 square miles (44 square kilometres). The docking stations were spaced apart, and sited mainly at key destinations and tube stations. There is a charge for hire, although there was an initial period of free use to promote the scheme. The scheme was designed based on a feasibility study produced by German Dector-Vega and Charles Snead in November 2008.
Over the next few years, pressure from campaign groups, bloggers and everyday cyclists using social media and on-street demonstrations brought the state of London's roads for cycling to the attention of the media. Eventually, this led to significant new investment in safer cycle infrastructure for London. In March 2013, City Hall announced £1 billion of improvements to make cycling safer and easier in London, as well as to improve air pollution and inner city congestion in the capital. Boris Johnson, Livingstone's replacement as Mayor of London, planned to build a 15-mile "Crossrail for bikes" running from the West London suburbs across the Westway, through Hyde Park, the Mall and along the Victoria Embankment past Canary Wharf and into East London.