Strava’s Metro data shows immense climate benefit of cycle commuting – Cycle Industry News

Mark Sutton12 December, 2019
Digital training and ride-logging platform Strava has been able to demonstrate the immense climate benefits of cycle commuting through its Metro platform.

Riders pinning their data to their commutes had a median cycle of 8.3 kilometres in the UK last year, with total miles ridden adding up to 112.6 million kilometres. This equated to a carbon offset of 28,270 metric tonnes against driven miles in the UK alone.

Globally, the figures tallied 507.1 million kilometres logged and 127,304 metric tonnes of carbon saved.

The report’s scope goes well beyond environmental benefits, however, and Strava flags some quite difficult social issues in its headline findings.

The data has a segment dedicated to the disparity between men and women cycle commuting, in particular in the UK where the likelihood to cycle to work sits at 32.8% for men and 29.3% for women.

There is an undertone of safety concerns running through the report, with British women much more likely to both run and cycle in groups, especially after dark. In this respect the UK is worse than the global and European averages.

In the UK 27% of rides by men are grouped vs. 37% of rides by women, while 22% of runs by men are grouped vs. 32% by women.

The cycle commuting gender divide stands at 12% outside London and 6.7% in the capital where safe infrastructure and a perception of safety in numbers has steadily become more prominent.

Unsurprisingly the prominence of the virtual workout has risen on Strava. Virtual cycle rides are up 4.7% in June and 9.7% in January (2015-2019) showing multi-season use.

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