If you build them, they will come: record year for cycle counters

New superhighways and better networks are helping cycle lane usage boom across the UK

Cycle lanes are one of the most efficient and healthiest ways of moving people. A single bike lane can transport five times as many people as a motor traffic lane, without the air and noise pollution. This is good news for everyone, whether you drive, walk or cycle - or breathe.

What's clear from the data, though - despite occasional bizarre claims to the contrary, and attempts to have lanes removed - is that to reap cycling's benefits you have to build proper infrastructure. But if you build it, they will come - and the cycle counters prove it.