Where have the cyclists gone?

News Headline (Bristol 24/7 - 3rd March 2026)

"Walking and cycling in Bristol save NHS more than £15m a year".

But perhaps the real headline should have been:

"Bristol residents who cycle more than once a week has dropped by 4% since 2023 (from 28% to 24%)".

The author of the news article is Martin Booth, who is a well known advocate for cycling in Bristol.

It was surprising to see that the article didn't specifically talk about cycling.

This news article uses information from the "Bristol’s 2025 Walking and Cycling Index" which is produced by Sustrans (or the Wheel Walk Cycle Trust as they are now known).

This report has been published every 2 years since 2015. But you can see that it has moved away from it's "Better by Bike" focus and now talks about Walking and as well.

Looking at the reports over the years, they have reported the measure of "Residents who cycle at least once a week", but in the most recent report they didn't call out the reduction of 4% from the 2023 figure. You might think that the first ever drop in this measure (from 28% to 24%) is something that should be reported on.

I have analysed the data from these reports to help people understand the changes in cycling in Bristol.

You can find the reports on BU Reports. Look for the "Cycling Index" button on the Site Map.

Residents who cycle at least once a week

All

Back at 2015 levels.

Gender

"Women" have increased by 1%, but "Men" have dropped by 10%

Ethnicity

"Ethnic Minorities" and "White" have both dropped by 5%

Socio Economic Group

Descriptions from Office for National Statistics

AB: Higher and intermediate managerial, administrative and professional occupations
C1: Supervisory, clerical, and junior managerial, administrative and professional occupations
C2: Skilled manual occupations
DE: Semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations; unemployed and lowest grade occupations

The "lowest" group have seen an increase of 5%, whilst the "posh" people have dropped by 8%