Aberdeen’s Lang Stracht saw 38% growth in the number of people cycling over the first three months of 2025 vs the same period in 2024
National cycle counter data has revealed growth in the number of people travelling by bike in the west of Aberdeen. It’s among 34 locations across Scotland seeing increases of over 30% in the number of cycle journeys in winter 2024-25 compared with the previous year.
Lang Stracht, between Kingswells and Sheddocksley in the west of Aberdeen, saw 3,117 cycle journeys in January, February and March 2025, compared to 2,252 cycle journeys in the same period in 2024 – a 38% increase.
Another nearby cycle counter on a shared-use path connecting Lang Stracht and Queen’s Road, saw a 75% increase over the same period, with 1,567 cycle journeys in the first three months of 2025 compared to 897 in 2024.
In addition to the growth in cycling, peaks at morning and evening commuting times indicate that people in the area are predominantly travelling by bike for everyday journeys, like commuting to and from work.
Significant year-on-year increases in cycling were observed at urban and rural locations in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Highlands, Inverclyde, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, South Lanarkshire and Stirling.
Data was captured through more than 800 automatic cycle counters managed by Cycling Scotland, local authorities and partner organisations.
Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: “It is encouraging to see cyclist numbers increasing during the winter. Aberdeen City Council continues to invest in active travel including cycling. We hope the increase in numbers carries on rising in the coming months and years.”
Nick Montgomery, Monitoring and Development Manager at Cycling Scotland, said: “To see significant winter to winter increases in cycling is very promising, especially as the growth is close to locations that have seen improvements for cycling in recent years. The peaks in cycling recorded during morning and evening rush hours also show that people are using these routes to get around by bike for everyday journeys, such as travelling to and from work.”
“What we see from the data is that where local authorities are investing in protected cycle lanes and improved networks of cycling routes, there are big increases in people travelling by bike. Future improvements would support even more people to benefit from cycling as a healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly way of getting around.”
Map of locations to see increases of over 30% in the number of cycle journeys in winter 2024-25 compared with the previous year
Explanation of methodology:
- The findings follow a comparative analysis of data from more than 800 automatic cycle counters covering all 32 Scottish local authorities across Scotland, including 100 counters managed by Cycling Scotland through the National Monitoring Framework. Cycle counts from January, February and March 2024 were compared with counts from the same period in 2025, to identify locations seeing significant increases in cycling from one winter to the next. Data from February 29th 2024 was excluded to ensure that each time period had equal number of days to allow for a comparative analysis.
- Further data on cycle rates in Scotland can be found on the Cycling Open Data portal.
