Cyclists counted as they cross Blackfriars Bridge in London on Sunday May 30.
Evans Cycles
AI-powered traffic counting has found that cyclists accounted for 41% of all road users on Blackfriars Bridge, London. The count was carried out on Sunday, May 30, by Evans Cycles, a 53-store bike shop founded in 1921.
Cyclists once dominated British roads — the number of cyclists in the U.K. doubled from 4.7 million in 1929 to just over 10 million in 1936. At the time, there were two million motor cars in the U.K. Cycling levels peaked in 1949 when cycling’s share of road journeys—the so-called modal share—was 37%, higher than today’s cycling levels in the Netherlands.
Cycle use in the U.K. fell to an all-time low of 1% in 1970 but has been steadily increasing since then, with the pandemic leading to a sharp increase in both recreational and transport cycling.
Thanks to protected cycleways installed by Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London, cycle use in central London has experienced strong growth.
As part of its centenary celebrations, Evans Cycles decided to measure cycle use on a sunny Sunday. Using AI technology from Google, the firm’’s analysis showed that, over an hour, 326 cyclists passed a video camera on Blackfriars Bridge. During the same period, the camera counted 404 cars, 30 buses, 20 taxis, and 10 motorbikes.
“As the boom in cycling continues, i’t’s not unimaginable to return to the glory days of 1949,” said Matthew Atkinson, Head of Retail at Evans Cycles.
The chain started life in 1921 when touring cyclist and cycle journalist F.W. Evans opened a small shop on Kennington Road in southeast London.
