Sports come and go, but some activities are there to stay. Every country is known for loving one sport more than another. Some countries have preferences for multiple sports, but in the UK, it is known that football is the most popular sport, followed by cricket, rugby, badminton and tennis.
However, sports are one thing, especially when they cannot be practised regularly due to a global pandemic. With most restrictions being lifted, a couple of years after the pandemic’s height, we are seeing a return to normal.
Some things have shifted, for example, cycling and bicycles in general, have become a lot more popular than they were in previous years. Here is an overview of the overall popularity of cycling in the UK.
The Times Before the Pandemic
Up to March of 2020, cycling was not an unpopular activity. There are multiple reports that say that around 42% of people aged five and above, had access to a bicycle and were using it. That is a large number, and while not as large as in the Netherlands, it is more than good enough.
That means a huge number of people had bicycles or were able to rent or purchase one, which is a different statistic from actually riding a bicycle. When compared to all other methods of transportation, cycling had a huge number of 1% of miles travelled from 2013 up to 2019. This number increased during the pandemic, however, those numbers are often considered outliers, but they should still be included.
The Pandemic – Shifting the Focus to Bicycles
When compared to the previous years, or rather, 2019, even, the number of travelled miles by bicycle increased to 2.8%, which is a huge uplift compared to previous years. The percentage of people having access to a bicycle also went up by 5 percent, landing at 47%.
Given the strict measures that the UK has taken during the height of the pandemic, bicycles as a means of transportation were on the rise, compared to regular methods such as buses, trains or taxis. In terms of billions of miles cycled, the number increased from 3 billion miles in 2019 to 5 billion miles in 2020, which is indeed a large uplift. However, a huge uplift during a period where things were shifted upside down, often isn’t the best indicator of the overall big picture.
Cycling in the UK After the Pandemic
Given how many things were changed during the height of the pandemic, such as more people walking and cycling, as well as more people working from home, it was expected for things to go back to a more normal number after restrictions were removed.
Going forward, cycling has still remained one of the more popular ways of transportation and exercising in the UK. one of the reasons for that was the pandemic, but another was that the government took cycling seriously, especially after the huge increase of cyclists in 2020, dedicating themselves to improving road safety, as well as the laws, so that they are clearer and more inclusive of various methods of transportation, other than motorised vehicles.
Cycling in the UK is relatively popular, moreso nowadays than it was prior to the pandemic. It is likely to remain popular, especially with the younger audience, who have always enjoyed cycling, as a fun activity and method of transportation.