How much people cycled
Residents of England made an average of 15 cycling trips and 16 cycling stages per person in 2025. They cycled 57 miles per person, up from 53 miles in 2024 and 5% above the 54 miles recorded in 2019.
The Department for Transport warns that the relatively small number of cycling trips in the survey sample makes this series volatile. Cycling trip rates have stayed between 14 and 20 trips per person per year since 2002.
Why people cycled
Leisure accounted for 35% of cycling trips in 2025, followed by commuting at 32%, education or escort education at 15%, and shopping at 8%. These are proportions of recorded cycling trips, not proportions of people.
| Purpose | Share of cycling trips |
|---|---|
| Leisure | 35% |
| Commuting | 32% |
| Education or escort education | 15% |
| Shopping | 8% |
The 2025 diary change
A digital travel diary became the primary collection method in 2025, with a paper diary still available. The Department for Transport says the change appears to have reduced the recording of some trips, especially walks shorter than one mile. It says pedal-cycling trip rates appear less affected because they were similar to 2024, but comparisons between 2024 and 2025 should still be read with the quality and technical reports.
Differences by sex
In 2025, males averaged 22 cycling trips and 83 cycling miles per person; females averaged 9 trips and 30 miles. These are survey averages, not an explanation of the difference and not measures of cycling ability.
Why this is not a complete UK total
The National Travel Survey figures above cover residents of England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish related evidence through other surveys and administrative systems. Combining them without harmonised definitions would create false precision, so this page does not present the England results as a UK total.
Definitions and live source material
Use the linked publisher pages for the complete dataset, current policy and any revisions made after this RideIn summary.
- Department for Transport: NTS 2025 active travel↗England household travel survey results and methodology warning used on this page.
- Department for Transport: National Travel Survey 2025 release↗Publication page, quality report and technical report.
- Department for Transport: walking and cycling statistics collection↗Links to further official series with different geographies and methods.