A 2004 survey by the Chartered Management Institute found that the most reliable way of getting to work is by bicycle. The CMI believes travel disruptions are delaying managers at a cost of more than 2 million working-hours per week. The CMI survey examined the levels of disruption experienced by managers travelling to work by car, bus, motorbike, train, the underground and bicycle and found that those travelling by cycle experienced the least amount of delay.

On February 17th 2003 London motorists had to start paying a £5 charge when entering the congestion charge zone. The number of people cycling in central London has soared following the introduction of the congestion charge and the promotion of cycling as a convenient and healthy mode of travel. Official figures from 2003 show that, at peak times, there were 73 percent more people entering the congestion charge zone on bikes than in the year before the congestion charge was introduced. During May and June 2003, an average of 18,131 cyclists entered the congestion zone each day between 7am and 6.30pm. This represents a 31 percent increase on the previous year - with one cyclist entering the congestion charge zone for every seven private cars. During the same period, an average of 8,686 cyclists entered the congestion zone during the morning rush hour from 7.30am to 9.30am. This represents a 73 percent increase on 2002. (Source: Transport for London). In fact, the number of cyclists is higher than official counts because the cyclists entering the congestion zone are only counted on shared routes with other traffic. It’’s estimated more than 3000 cyclists a day are not included in the official figures.

A 2003 study from the Bolton Institute showed that the London borough of Hackney is increasing the number of cycle commuters faster than anywhere else in the UK. Six other Inner London boroughs make it into the UK top 14. And this study didn't take into account the growth in cycle commuting thanks to the congestion charge introduced in February 2003. In 2001 the proportion ofjourneys to work by bike in Hackney was 6.83 percent - an increase of almost 70 percent from the proportion in 1991 (4.03 percent) and more than 150 percent from 1981 (2.56 percent). Cambridge remains the UK district with the greatest amount of cycling (28.34 percent of journeys to work), but in terms of growth it loses out to Hackney.

(Source: John Parkin, Bolton Institute Comparisons of cycle use for the journey to work from the ”81, ”91 and 2001 censuses. Traffic Engineering and Control, September 2003).