Counts at peak time show that female cyclists comprise just 23% of the total. On quiet routes with little traffic the proportion is 42% higher than on routes with a lot of traffic. Counts were made in South Inner London. In Bermondsey on the main radial routes towards the City there were 18% female cyclists on the busy A200 route compared with 26% on the parallel Quietway 1. At the Elephant there was a difference between the 2 main roads where we counted. On Newington Causeway going south there is some segregation and a safe junction. Here there were 23% female cyclists. On London Road where there is no protection and a still dangerous junction there were only 16% female cyclists.
At the Elephant and Castle, after the changes, there were 19% female cyclists on 2 of the main roads compared with 28% on the quiet bypass route.
At the Elephant there was a difference between the 2 main roads where we counted. On Newington Causeway going south there is some segregation and a safe junction. Here there were 23% female cyclists. On London Road where there is no protection and a still dangerous junction there were only 16% female cyclists.
None of this is actually very surprising. But it does demonstrate clearly that if we want more cyclists from a wider demographic, improving the quality of cycle routes is an effective way to do this. And an important aspect of quality is not cycling alongside heavy motor traffic and not competing with it at junctions.
Raw counts in the Excel sheet below
proportion_female_busy_quiet.xls |