Active travel: walking is the big winner
What does this image show?
Walking is the only way of getting around that more people are doing more regularly than they did before the pandemic. 56 percent of our respondents are walking three times a week or more, up from 36 percent pre-pandemic. This massive shift has been hidden in plain sight because walking so often gets ignored in what gets counted.
Why does this matter?
Car driving and being a passenger in a car bounced back between April and October but still did not reach close to pre-pandemic levels. Regular public transport use declined sharply in April with some bounce back in the Autumn but regular cycling declined slightly by the Autumn. It remains difficult to establish the impacts of the pandemic on cycling as regular commute cycling is diminished but occasional leisure cycling has increased for some.
Image of people walking along an urban tree-lined pathway, all wearing masks as it is during the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. Text reads: 56 percent of people are walking more regularly.