Request ID: FOI-4425-2324 Date published: 28 March 2024
You asked
Follow-up to EIR-4096-2324: This is very illuminating – thank you.
On the pdf, can you help me please with an explanation of what cycle stages/day means and how it is collected.
Also, is that the standard TfL method or metric for counting cycle numbers or is there any other method or metric that TfL uses? … And if there are other major metrics measuring cycle numbers, pleas can you provide them over the same timeframe, please?
On the money spent on cycling, I would have thought that would have been relatively straightforward from going through annual accounts to identify a few relevant significant line items each year.
Alternatively, as cycling is a TfL objective, I would have though that there would be a budget for cycling each year and a performance against budget report. If you have this and can provide the annual position, going back for as long at there has been a cycling budget, that would be sufficient to answer my FoI. Is that possible? If not, does it mean that TfL has a plan for cycling with no budget attached to the plan?
We answered
TfL Ref: EIR-4425-2324
Thank you for your further request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1st March 2024. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked the following, further to case reference EIR-4096-2324:
“On the pdf, can you help me please with an explanation of what cycle stages/day means and how it is collected.
Also, is that the standard TfL method or metric for counting cycle numbers or is there any other method or metric that TfL uses? … And if there are other major metrics measuring cycle numbers, pleas can you provide them over the same timeframe, please?
On the money spent on cycling, I would have thought that would have been relatively straightforward from going through annual accounts to identify a few relevant significant line items each year.
Alternatively, as cycling is a TfL objective, I would have though that there would be a budget for cycling each year and a performance against budget report. If you have this and can provide the annual position, going back for as long at there has been a cycling budget, that would be sufficient to answer my FoI. Is that possible? If not, does it mean that TfL has a plan for cycling with no budget attached to the plan?”.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
The metric TfL uses to assess cycling levels at pan-London level is the number of cycle stages per day (also called 7-day average cycle stages). This is our standard metric, which is also used for our target in the Cycling Action Plan 2 to reach 1.6m daily cycle journeys by 2030.
Cycle stages include cycle trips (i.e. one way trips that are cycled all the way) and cycle journey stages (i.e. a cycle journey that is part of a longer multi-modal trip e.g. cycling to a rail station). “Per day” refers to a 7-day average.
Weekday cycle-km, sometimes called “cycling volume”.
Weekday cycle-km per km of network, sometimes referred to as “cycling intensity”, which is derived from the above.
7-day average cycle stages, our standard metric discussed above and shown in column C of the previously shared table. This is derived from the weekday cycle-km metric and the London Travel Demand Survey.
7-day average cycle trips, similar to the 7-day average cycle stages but with additional calculations to provide an estimate of cycled-all-the-way trips.
The technical note referred above will provide further details on how these metrics are calculated.
Below are the four metrics for the 2015-2023 period.
Year
Cycle-km estimate (weekday average)
Cycle-km per km (weekday average)
Cycle stages (7-days average)
Cycle trips (7-days average)
2015
4,629,416
289
1,087,371
1,014,753
2016
4,574,716
285
1,055,695
978,774
2017
4,857,379
303
1,106,458
1,012,393
2018
5,202,267
325
1,096,222
1,011,858
2019
5,117,154
319
1,052,280
985,528
2020
No usable data
No usable data
No usable data
No usable data
2021
No usable data
No usable data
No usable data
No usable data
2022
6,054,559
378
1,186,968
1,118,115
2023
6,228,539
389
1,261,868
1,171,835
For the 2000-2014 period, we used a different methodology to the number of cycle stages, based on an estimate of cycle stages produced by the Department for Transport in 2008 to which we applied a growth factor based on the overall change in cycling volumes, initially calculated from DfT counts and later on, when available, from the cycle-km travelled derived from TfL's own, bespoke cycle counts panel.
Turning to your question about “money spent on cycling”, this is in essence a repeat of the same question that was asked under case reference EIR-4096-2324 which was refused under Regulation 12(4)(b) on the basis that it would be manifestly unreasonable to try and source that information for a 24 year timeframe. The request is being refused again on the same basis. There is not, as you suggest, “a budget for cycling each year”. As explained previously, the term “cycling” is vague and covers a number of different activities, including, but not limited to, spending on the cycle hire scheme; the implementation of cycle lanes; cycle parking infrastructure at stations or on the road network; spending by our Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change team; and spending within Borough funding whereby TfL allocates money to Boroughs to deliver cycling related schemes. There is no single budget covering allsuch activities, and no efficient way of compiling the amount of money that may have been spent on any activity that might fall under the broad heading of “cycling”. You refer to our annual accounts and suggest the information should be found there. Our accounts are published each year and are available on our website (see here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/annual-report and here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/annual-reports-past-years) and so you can see for yourself what information is / is not contained in them. If you were to be more specific as to what “cycling” spend you are interest in – for example, with reference to a specific scheme, project or activity - then we will be able to consider such a request accordingly.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
