In 2025, Cycling UK launched a campaign, My Ride Our Right, asking for more investment in active travel. To make their case, they commissioned new YouGov research into how investment in infrastructure reduces barriers to cycling. They discovered that seven years of investment in infrastructure had increased the number of people cycling, but also that “barriers to cycling have widened between men and women across every measure across the UK”.
The widening gender gap in cycling
Men’s experience of barriers such as drivers overtaking too closely and people who cycle experiencing threatening behaviour while on their bike has improved by five percentage points but women feel just as threatened. Four percent fewer men see the lack of segregated lanes as a problem whilst the number of women put off by lack of cycle lanes has increased over the same time period.
Despite improvement in infrastructure, safety concerns and design flaws still deter women from cycling in cities such as Oxford. The survey explored the reasons women are discouraged from cycling. The majority of women cite safety concerns and a lack of good cycling infrastructure. Of the female respondents, 36% did not feel safe enough to cycle on the roads, and 23% were concerned at a lack of dedicated cycle routes.
What is being done in Oxford to encourage women to cycle?
Cycling UK Oxfordshire promotes Isis cyclists – a group specifically for women. Oxford Cyclists also actively invite women to participate in group rides. However, none of these initiatives can change the infrastructure issues in Oxford which deter women from cycling.
Oxford prides itself on being a ‘cycling city’. This is specifically mentioned on the welcome signs at the city boundaries. Government statistics show that Oxford is the second-largest cycling city in the UK (after Cambridge). In Oxford, 38.1% of residents cycle at least once a week compared to 47.8% in Cambridge. Cycling campaigners in Oxford say that despite the failures of the local authority and poor infrastructure, the city has a high proportion of cyclists.
Oxford’s cycling infrastructure is underfunded and outdated
A 2018 report compared cycling provision in Cambridge, Oxford, and Milton Keynes. It found that the road networks in both Cambridge and Oxford were close to tipping point. In these cities, cycling is a major mode of transport, with 25% of all commuter journeys entirely within the city being made by bike and 27% by car in Oxford.
Interestingly, the report found that much more money needs to be spent on cycling infrastructure in Oxford than in the two other cities, because the cycling infrastructure is so poor. The report states that government funding for Oxford and Milton Keynes should be increased significantly, recommending that an extra £200mn be spent on improving cycling infrastructure, £150mn of which should be allocated to Oxford.
Oxford’s reputation versus the reality
In the chapter on Oxford, the report identifies serious problems with the cycling infrastructure in the city. There is a lack of consistency: cycle routes can be any combination of painted cycle lanes, on- or off-road, and shared bus lanes. Occasionally, there are segregated cycle lanes, although none of these is found on arterial routes, which are key to accessing the city. The cycle ‘network’ is patchy and provides no provision at all for cycling in places, particularly at junctions.
One Oxford cycling campaigner notes that Oxford has much “dual provision”, where cyclists have the choice of pretending to be pedestrians (on painted cycle lanes on the pavement) or pretending to be motor vehicles (on a road without cycle lanes but with stencilled images of bikes, or by sharing bus lanes with buses). Neither option is satisfactory for cyclists.
The report identifies the Plain roundabout, the only access to the city from the east where most of the population lives, as the busiest junction for cyclists in Oxford. Despite having recently been remodelled, the roundabout still makes very poor provision for them. Since the report, it has been remodelled again, but is still dangerous for cyclists.
Gaps and inconsistencies in Oxford’s cycle network
Gaps in the cycling network include two crucial shopping streets in the city centre, Cornmarket and Queen Street. These are closed to cycle traffic during the day. Queen Street is open to buses but not cyclists, so is not fully pedestrianised. Queen Street is a key part of a potential east-west cycle route through the city. Cornmarket forms a vital north-south link. In addition, there is no adequate route for cyclists from the rail station into the city.
In Frideswide Square near the station, the space is shared – which rarely works and in this case is very poorly signposted, so pedestrians might be unaware that they have to share the space with cyclists.
After the Square, cyclists find themselves on busy, daunting roads. One is shared with motor traffic and the other has a marked cycle lane, forcing cyclists to turn right across lanes of traffic with no guidance or right of way. In addition, there is insufficient bicycle parking in the city, with bike racks often being oversubscribed.
Proposed solutions and long-standing concerns
The 2018 report notes that Oxfordshire County Council is proposing a series of cycle superhighways with ‘’a high level of continuous and uniform provision” in both directions, but in some cases with sharing of bus lanes and painted lanes. This is criticised as inadequate, as cyclists are not properly segregated from traffic, junctions are not properly dealt with, and the county council’s own draft design guidelines, which stipulate stepped cycle tracks as a minimum provision on busy main roads, are not complied with.
According to the report, Oxford’s planning officers regard cycling as an afterthought, to be provided for after motor vehicles have been accommodated, when the opposite should be the case: cycling should be considered first, and then the remaining space allocated to motor vehicles. The report also proposes opening Queen Street to cyclists – this has still not happened eight years later.
Recent efforts by the county council
Nine quickways and one quietway were highlighted in the county council’s Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Oxford (LCWIP) as priorities for improving or creating new cycle lanes, advanced stop lines, and other measures, along with pedestrian facilities.
In 2021, following further consultation on quickways for Oxford, five were approved for implementation. But one of the key components of quickways remains that space should be shared with traffic, a principle that has been roundly criticised by cycling campaigners because of safety risks. These have now been implemented, yet while cycling advocates welcome the improvements, they still criticise elements of the schemes. The provision of cycle superhighways has been patchy and inadequate.
In a detailed analysis by local cycling group Cyclox on one of the cycle superhighways, Woodstock Road, a few improvements are noted: some side road entrances have been made safer by slowing down traffic; a new zebra crossing has been created (although the cycle crossing here has no sensible connection at either end); a new stretch of cycle path has been made (albeit it is only a painted lane); and there are new lane markings at the busy St Giles intersection.
Ongoing risks with current schemes
However, Cyclox also notes that there are still problems on Woodstock Road, a major arterial route. It is now an unhappy and confusing mix of cycle lanes on the pavement, bus lanes that switch sides, and a long stretch into town that has no cycling provision at all.
These improvements are seen as short-sighted, short-term measures that are likely to be abandoned once a more extensive scheme is introduced.
As the Oxford Clarion reported recently, a visionary – and costed – scheme to overhaul Woodstock Road exists. It is one that would transform this key route into and out of Oxford into a road that gives equal priority to all forms of mobility.
Further barriers on key routes
On another key route, London Road, Headington, the cycle tracks are too narrow and have manhole covers in the middle. They are undulating, poorly maintained, not being cleared of leaves and debris, and give way to side roads.
Here, too, the markings are merely painted on, and don’t give cyclists enough space to overtake each other on the cycle lanes. In addition, as cyclists approach the busy London Road/Windmill Road junction, any provision disappears.
Since the 2018 report was written, there have been five deaths of cyclists in Oxford, mainly related to HGVs turning left. Cyclox is now campaigning for Vision Zero – a future where no one is killed or seriously injured on Oxford’s roads.
What Oxford needs to do next
The council’s own guidelines for cycling infrastructure need to become an integral part of planning decisions. Previous consultations, such as that about Woodstock Road, must be respected and implemented fully.
The council probably needs an officer to champion active transport infrastructure and to ensure that it is always of a high standard. Cycle lanes need to be properly segregated as a priority, preferably with stepped kerbs to avoid conflicts with motor vehicles. White painted lines should become unacceptable as the only way of demarcating cycle lanes. Junctions must be made safe for cyclists, as this is where most of the serious injuries and fatalities occur.
Oxford must reduce traffic speed and car dependency to create a safer environment for cyclists.
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