Every two years, the City of London conducts traffic surveys to take stock of transport trends in the area and the latest results place the bicycle at the peak of the pyramid.
The revelation comes via municipality's City Streets 2023 report, which offers an overview of the recent transport mode share in the city's "Square Mile".
This central patch of London on the northern edge of the River Thames saw people opt for bikes more than any other mode of transport mode in 2022, accounting for 26.8% of the overall traffic mix. Cars and private hire vehicles made up 25.8%.
The number of people riding bikes in the area has increased almost fourfold since 1999, according to the report, while the number of motor vehicles has declined by almost two thirds.
According to the report, most of the notable declines in motor vehicle usage have taken place during or immediately after significant events. These include the introduction of the Congestion Charge Zone in 2003, the Global Recession in 2008-2009, the introduction of Transport for London's Cycle Superhighways in 2015-2016 and the pandemic in 2020-2022.
The national government has also taken bold steps to bolster active transport in London, in 2020 committing hundreds of millions of pounds to local councils willing to accelerate the rollout of protected bike lanes and partial street closures.
More recently, Transport for London published its first Cargo Bike Action plan, a strategy to promote the uptake sustainable freight solutions as it works to toward net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
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