Cycling Scotland recorded more than 5,600 bike journeys on key routes in Glasgow and Edinburgh over 48 hours, with cyclists outnumbering cars at peak times, new data shows.
Over a 48-hour period in May 2026, Victoria Road recorded 5,637 bike journeys, a 38% increase from May 2025.
This protected route links Glasgow’s Southside with the city centre.
During the same period, Cycling Scotland recorded 5,653 bike journeys on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk, the highest total recorded there in a traffic survey.
Bikes outnumbered cars on Leith Walk between 8 am and 9 am on Wednesday, May 13.
It was the first time this had been recorded on an on-street cycle route in Edinburgh.
Overall, cycling accounted for 11% of journeys there, compared with 16.6% on Victoria Road.
On Victoria Road, bikes also outnumbered cars at every rush-hour peak, continuing a trend identified in the September 2025 survey.
Cycling also reached record levels on Clyde Street and Garscube Road in Glasgow, accounting for 13.6% and 6.2% of journeys respectively.
Edinburgh’s York Place recorded a high of 4.7%.
Stephen Flynn, Cabinet Secretary for economy, tourism and transport, said: “The record level of use, particularly in Glasgow’s South City Way and Edinburgh’s City Centre West-East Link, demonstrates that the infrastructure we are providing is helping more people than ever travel by bike for everyday journeys.
“Active travel is pivotal in helping people save money, improve their health and reduce transport emissions; walking, wheeling and cycling is transformational for both people and planet.”
This year, the Scottish Government plans to invest £226m in active and sustainable travel to create safer routes and encourage more people to walk, wheel and cycle on everyday journeys.
Cycling Scotland and local authorities used temporary cameras to count passing traffic at more than 50 locations across Scotland.
Recorded traffic included pedestrians, bikes, cars, buses, vans and larger goods vehicles.
Across the surveyed locations, Cycling Scotland found that long-term growth in cycling’s share of journeys was driven mainly by increased cycling, rather than a corresponding fall in vehicle traffic.
Cycling accounted for 7.9% of all journeys on Byres Road in Glasgow’s West End, where cycle lanes have been completed between Dumbarton Road and University Avenue.
Daily bike journeys on East City Way, part of Glasgow’s cycle network on London Road, more than doubled from an average of 300 in May 2024 to nearly 700 in May 2026.
Keith Irving, Chief Executive of Cycling Scotland, said: “What we see clearly from the data is that where local authorities and the Scottish Government are investing in protected cycle lanes and improved networks of cycling routes, more people are travelling by bike.
“The high volume of cycling that we continue to see around morning rush hour tells its own story, with people evidently using these new routes to make everyday journeys by bike, especially to work; we’re also seeing signs of a strong network effect, as routes begin to join together and make more journeys possible.
“Altogether, more people cycling is a net benefit for everyone, for our health, for reducing harmful pollution and reducing congestion on our streets; we need more safe cycling routes to bring these advantages to more people across Scotland.”