Strava, a running and cycling logging app, has bundled together all the data from its cycling commuter users and created a map and a few key bits of data showing how Londoners cycle to work. Here’s what we learned.
London commutes by bike more than any other city in the world
This is only based on Strava’s data, and it compares the number of commutes directly, not per capita, some some health warnings apply – but, according to this dataset at least, Londoners commute the most out of any other city, with almost 10,000 rides uploaded every day. Well done, London.
People cycle most on Tuesdays
Based on Strava’s data for bike commuting all around the world, Tuesday is the most popular day for bike commuting. We can sort of see why: your willpower is strongest post-Monday and before all motivation drains away later in the week.
Commuters can’t be bothered with smaller roads
The blog Googlemapsmania compared this map with another made by Strava which shows the routes taken by all cyclists, rather than just commuters’. The comparison suggets that commuter cyclists are much keener on the main roads, giving the dark orange colour to main routes in the map above.
On the more general map, however, differently sized roads seem to be used more evenly, probably because these cyclists aren’t so bothered about travelling quickly by using main arteries:
Londoners from the south west seem more likely to cycle
Across most of the map, the major cycling arteries fizzle out once you get out of innter London. To the city’s south west, though, there are widely-used cycle routes as far away as Epsom and Teddington.
This could be to do with Strava’s data: perhaps wealthy south westerners are more likely to use the technology, which would skew things.
Still, it’s pretty impressive – especially considering the Boris bikes only get as far as Putney.
