Pandemic leads to 35% surge in numbers cycling in Cork

A cycling advocacy group has been working with Strava Metro which converts the GPS data people use to track their rides, runs, and walks, into trends and insights.

The pandemic helped drive a 35% surge in the number of people cycling in the Cork metropolitan region over the last year, new data shows.

The pandemic was a factor in driving a 35% surge in the number of people cycling in the Cork metropolitan region over the last year, new data shows.

The Cork Cycling Campaign said while the strong growth pattern is consistent with mobility patterns in cities around the world, much of the exceptional growth was likely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and in response to public health advice from the Government and the WHO to walk and cycle wherever possible.

The cycling advocacy group has been working with Strava Metro which converts the GPS data people use to track their rides, runs, and walks, into trends and insights. Its dataset for Cork reveals striking changes in mobility patterns in the region, including:

• a 35% growth in cycling in 2020 compared to 2018/19 figures;
• an increase across all age categories in the numbers of people cycling;
• a doubling of the number of children/teenagers cycling;
• an almost doubling in the numbers cycling over the winter months compared to 2018/19 levels;
• strong growth in the number of people walking.

The data also showed that most of those who cycle in Cork favour direct over indirect routes.

Campaign spokesman Brian Murphy said the data clearly confirms the impression that many more people were out cycling last year.

“With the city council rolling out protected cycle lanes, we expect to see even more people cycling to work and school in the near future,” he said.

The group welcomed the council’s efforts to introduce more of the protected cycle lanes, and predicted further strong growth in the number of people cycling in 2021.

However, it has called on the council to install cyclist and pedestrian counters along key routes to produce independent data on active travel on city commuting routes.

While the council faced criticism early last year about the pace of delivery of cycling infrastructure, the pace improved towards the end of the year.

New bike racks and interim cycle lanes have been installed, existing bike lanes have been resurfaced and repaired, up to 4.7kms of existing bike lanes have been protected by wands, and many more new bike lanes are planned.