Strava has revealed the top cycling commuting cities in the UK to mark Earth Day.
The information Strava used to compile its results is a combination of activity data from its 150 million global athletes and insights from Strava Metro, which provides aggregated data to help improve active travel infrastructure.
Strava has also revealed how cyclists engage with its app based on age and gender.
The top cycling city is…
Strava’s data show the top UK city for cycle commuters in 2024 was London.
The UK’s capital was ahead of every other city in terms of distance, carbon saved and the active commuter base.
London’s a big place, and so the average cycle commute was 9.1km and took 31 minutes, 58 seconds.
This shows that Londoners are now commuting further than before. In 2022, the average cycle commute in the city was 7km and took 27 minutes, 13 seconds.
Strava predicts that the cycle commutes uploaded to Strava in London saved a total of 18,489,808kg of carbon in 2024, compared to if these journeys had been taken by car – which is unlikely considering the prevalent use of public transport in the city.
In total, Londoners commuted 52,800,000km (roughly 32,808,400 miles) by bike, which is 13 times around the Earth.
71 per cent of total Strava rides in London were recorded as commutes, which is an increase of 8 per cent over 2024.
The runners-up
Completing Strava’s top 5 are Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and Cambridge.
Coming in second behind the capital, cycling commuters in Manchester racked up 9,500,000km. Edinburgh was third (4,500,000km), Bristol fourth (2,900,000km) and Cambridge fifth (1,130,000km).
In terms of the percentage of rides recorded as commutes, the order of cities behind London changed. Bristol came in second with 66 per cent, followed by Edinburgh at 62 per cent, and Manchester and Cambridge level on 54 per cent.
Millennials are commuting by bike the most in London
Strava says 58 per cent of riders recording a cycle commute on the cycling app in London were millennials – more than any other age group in the capital.
Elsewhere, other than those aged over 60, at least half of riders on Strava from all generations recorded a commute last year.
Here are the full stats:
- Riders aged 40-49: 55 per cent
- Riders aged 50-59: 52 per cent
- Riders aged 18-29: 50 per cent
- Riders aged 60+: 44 per cent
Over half of men and women use Strava for logging commutes
When it comes to cycling to work, Strava reveals that last year just over half of men and women uploaded commutes to its platform.
54 per cent of men and 52 per cent of women uploaded cycle commutes.
First held in 1970, Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
