THE PROPORTION of work journeys by walking and cycling in Cardiff is behind target despite tens of millions being spent on trying to promote active travel, according to the latest council data.
Members of Cardiff Council’s environmental scrutiny committee were presented with an update on work to develop cycleways across the city at a meeting on Thursday, April 10.
There are plans for six cycleways across Cardiff and a number of phases have already been completed.
However, one council official told scrutiny committee members on Thursday that there was a lot of work to do to develop a fully joined up segregated network.
Cardiff Council data shows that when the local authority published its transport white paper in 2020, which includes an ambition to get more people to cycle or walk instead of using a car, the proportions of journeys to work on foot and by bicycle were about 16.5% and 15.5% respectively.
The latest figures for 2023/24 show that the proportion of journeys to work by cycling was 13% and the proportion of journeys by walking was 15%. The current year target for cycling is 17% and the current year target for walking is 18%.
Environmental scrutiny committee member, Cllr John Lancaster, said: “I appreciate that… the political context in which you are working in is very difficult.
“That notwithstanding, your final slide there showed an overall spend in the last six or seven years of about £70m I think.
“Despite that, you… have actually gone backwards in your targets. Why is that?”
As of January, 2025, Cardiff Council had developed 11km of cycleway.
Since 2018/19 there has been £42m invested in cycling schemes and £27m invested in walking schemes, with all funding coming from Cardiff Capital Region grants, Welsh Government grants and section 106 funding.
Cardiff Council officers argued that progress on developing cycleways and improving opportunities for active travel were subject to funding and that this had decreased over the years.
Land use transport planner at Cardiff Council, Matt Price, also pointed to the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had.
He said: “I was cycling five days a week every week of the year to [work] and now I cycle far less because I hybrid work.
“There is a lot less cycling taking place because of that shift, so I think Covid has been a big factor in that.”
The council’s director of planning, transport and environment, Andrew Gregory, added to his colleague’s comments, saying the council’s 10-year transport strategy was based on the understanding that funding would be given to the council to help it promote active travel.
He added: “You could make the argument that if we’d had the level of funding that we had at the beginning of the programme… there would be more cycle routes completed than we have at the moment.
“We have always been clear that it is subject to the levels of funding to make sure that we have the network.”
One of the objectives Cardiff Council set out in its transport white paper was to build a safe and fully segregated cycle network across the city by 2026.
Environmental scrutiny committee members were told on Thursday that cycleway improvement works on Castle Street won’t start until 2026.
Construction on other sites could be later.
