Cycling in Northern Ireland 2019/20, has been published today

The publication is available on the ASRB website at:

• https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/walking-and-cycling-0/

Key Points

Attitudes towards cycling

• When asked to describe their attitudes to cycling;
• 3% described themselves as ‘strong and fearless’,
• 14% of respondents were ‘enthused and confident’,
• 16% said they were ‘interested, but concerned’.
• Around two thirds (67%) of respondents considered themselves to be in ‘No way, no how’ group.

(Each of the statements can be associated to a general category of cyclists taken from the ‘Four Types of Cyclists’ typology developed by the Portland Office of Transportation).

• A higher proportion of male respondents said they were ‘strong and fearless’ (5%) and ‘enthused and confident’ (20%) when it comes to cycling, compared with female respondents (1% and 7%, respectively).
• Conversely, a higher proportion of female respondents (73%) said ‘no way, no how’ compared with 62% of male respondents.

Bicycle Access

• In 2019/20, almost a third (32%) of respondents had access to a bicycle, down from 36% in 2017/18 and around the same as 2016/17 (32%).
• Bicycle access was highest among those aged 35-49 (43%) and 16-24 (40%) when compared to all other age groups. Access to a bicyle was lowest among those aged 65 and over (13%). 
• Overall, male respondents (37%) were more likely to have access to a bicycle compared with female respondents (27%).
• Access to a bicycle was highest among respondents living in Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council (41%), and lowest among respondents from Derry and Strabane District Council (22%).

Cycled in the last 4 weeks

• In 2019/20, a quarter (25%) of respondents said that they had cycled in the last 4 weeks, similar to results from 2017/18 (27%), and down from 30% in 2016/17.
• Male respondents (31%) were more likely than female respondents (16%) to say they had cycled in the last 4 weeks.
• Of the 210 respondents who said they had cycled in the last 4 weeks, almost two-fifths (39%) cycled at least once a fortnight, similar to previous years. One-fifth (20%) cycled once every 4 weeks and a small proportion (6%) said they cycled 5-7 days a week.
• The most popular reasons for cycling in the last 4 weeks was for ‘exercise’ (87%) and because they ‘enjoy it’ (80%).