Progress in cycling over seven years leads to fewer barriers to cycling for men, but leaves women behind

Launching its campaign, ‘My ride. Our right’ the charity is calling for increased investment in active travel to get more women cycling.

A comparison of new YouGov research commissioned by Cycling UK in 2025, with historic YouGov research from 2018, reveals that where there’s been higher levels of investment in cycling infrastructure, more people are cycling.

Looking at London specifically, data highlights that in 2018, half of respondents (49%) saw a lack of separate cycle lanes as a barrier to cycling. Fast forward to 2025 and that’s been halved (26%). We haven’t seen that elsewhere in Britain where investment is patchy at best. This impressive fall is largely attributed to the capital's investment in a comprehensive network of cycling and walking infrastructure, which has enhanced the appeal and safety of cycling for many. DfT active travel trends data revealed that daily cycle stage journeys have more than doubled from 600,000 a day in 2012, to 1.33 million in 2024.

Looking more closely at the new YouGov research released today, Cycling UK found that at the UK level, barriers to cycling have widened between men and women across every measure in the past seven years. The gender gap in response to barriers such as drivers overtaking too closely and people who cycle experiencing threatening behaviour while on their bike decreased by 5 points for men but remained consistent for women. A lack of physically segregated cycle lanes decreased for men by 4 points but increased for women. These findings suggest that while improvements in infrastructure and driver behaviour have been enough to shift the perception of cycling for some men, who think cycling is now safer, it hasn’t had the same impact for women.

The survey went on to unpack the reasons why there are fewer barriers to cycling for men than there are for women. Over half of women (58%) believe their cycle journeys are limited by safety concerns and a lack of suitable infrastructure. Female respondents pointed to roads not feeling safe enough to cycle (36%) and a lack of dedicated cycle routes (23%) as significant barriers to cycling. This highlights the unique challenges women face and a real need for safer streets and well-lit routes designed with the experiences of women in mind.  

With perceptions of cycle safety playing such an important role in the transport choices of women, it is unsurprising that more than half (53%) of all the respondents are also put off cycling by what they read in the news. Despite what people may have read, Statistics from the Department of Transport show that, per billion miles travelled, cycling is even safer than walking.

Cycle instructor Tina, 62, from Stevenage, shared how easy it is for one experience to redefine how a person views cycling. Recently, Tina was involved in an incident when a van driver tailgated her, revving and honking as she cycled with a woman she was teaching. “He could have overtaken when it was safe, but instead, he chose to intimidate us.” When he eventually passed, he pulled over, got out of his van, and stormed towards them to berate them for riding side by side.

Tina remained firm. “I explained that I was teaching this woman to ride safely and that it was legal and safer for us to ride together. He had nothing to say to that. But the anger, the entitlement—it was all there.”

“I knew that I was in the right and I had the confidence and the experience. It didn’t end up putting that woman off cycling, but for many women cycling solo, that experience might have been enough to put the bike back in the shed.” Experiences like these contribute to why men are twice as likely to have cycled within the past three months, with almost a third of women sharing they haven’t cycled since they were 15 years old.  

Unpacking what would encourage more women to cycle, the importance of infrastructure cannot be overstated. It can dictate what route a woman takes to her destination and how safe that journey will feel. 45% of women say that a direct cycle route to their nearest town centre or high street would encourage them to cycle, while well over two thirds (39%) say the same for physically separated cycle lanes.  

But building commuter corridors is not enough, argues Cycling UK – the charity believes we need networks that take women where they need to go. 13% of women across Britain said restrictions to reduce through traffic in their nearest town centre or high street would encourage them to cycle. This means not just connecting residential areas to city centres but serving local trips within neighbourhoods for school runs, amenities and high streets so that cycling can become a normal way to get around.

Sarah McMonagle, director of external affairs at Cycling UK, said:

“Many women, including myself, need to overcome barriers to cycling that simply don’t affect men in same way. It’s important we build safe cycle routes designed with the experiences of women in mind – while also calling out bad behaviour on our roads. Gender should never play a role in whether or not people feel able to choose to cycle.

“We know that the best way to enable millions more women to cycle is to build a network of separate cycle lanes across the country. That’s why we’re calling on all four governments in the UK to invest at least 10 per cent of their transport budgets in active travel as part of our new campaign. In England, the UK government is on the brink of making some momentous decisions about how it allocates funding over the next few years. Long term investment in active travel is essential to ensuring we realise the enormous economic, health and environmental benefits that come when more people cycle.”