Cycling Scotland uses active travel data insights tool built by UrbanTide to show investment in new Glasgow and Edinburgh cycle routes have been a huge success.

Last year, the team at UrbanTide developed a newly-upgraded active travel data insights tool for Cycling Scotland - the Cycling Open Data portal. 

This custom white-labeled portal aggregates national cycling and walking data, with these updates making it even easier for anyone to see the positive impact of networks of dedicated cycle lanes. 

Already, Cycling Scotland are gathering fascinating data insights that clearly demonstrate that where you invest in good cycling infrastructure, people will use it.

How the Cycling Open Data portal works 

The Cycling Open Data portal is designed as a powerful, multi-layered interactive map that combines granular data with machine learning to provide brand-new active travel data insights. 

Using aggregated data from a variety of traffic monitoring sources, including 800 active travel counters and sensors provided by various Local Authorities, Cycling Scotland, and Paths for All. Portal users can now filter by region to see cycle and pedestrian traffic numbers in real time for the first time.

The fully interactive map provides insights such as the top-performing cycle spots in Scotland and changes in modal transport use over time compared with private car use and public transport.

This is a substantial step forward in cycling data aggregation and visualisation, giving Cycling Scotland, Paths for All, and other active travel partners the data they need to track, monitor, and clearly demonstrate the impact infrastructural change can have on cycling numbers around Scotland.

Cycling infrastructure investment: What the data reveals

Recent data gathered through the Cycling Open Data portal has revealed the clear impact of cycling infrastructure on cycling numbers:

• 15% of all journeys on Glasgow’s Victoria Road are now by bike since the South City Way was built. This is a new record cycling modal share for an urban street in Scotland and a 46% increase since 2023
• 8.3% of all journeys recorded on Edinburgh’s City Centre West to East Link, which runs between Roseburn and the city centre, now also by bike (83% increase since 2024)
• 31% year-on-year growth in the number of cycle trips counted at Edinburgh's Picardy Place
• 169% growth where two routes now meet in the south of Edinburgh
• 106% growth on a key route in Stirling

Keith Irving, Chief Executive of Cycling Scotland has said:

“This is yet more evidence that when Scotland builds high-quality cycling infrastructure, it gets more people cycling. Given that cycling journeys typically account for around 2% of traffic on urban streets, the fact we are now seeing four to seven times that number of journeys being cycled on these routes – together with the huge growth in cycling numbers – shows just what can be achieved when Scotland invests in safe cycling routes.”

To see how the Cycling Open Data Portal works in action, get in touch to request a demo from our team.