In the foreword to Liverpool City Council Cycling Strategy, published in 2014, Joe Anderson declared “Liverpool is in the middle of a cycling revolution.”

The heart of the strategy was a target that 10% of all trips would be made by bike by 2025. The ambition was to make Liverpool the fastest growing cycling city in the country.

In the foreword to the 2019 Bikelife report (later renamed the Cycling and Walking Index) Steve Rotheram said that it was time for a “revolution in the way we travel, and it has already started right here.”

The Cycling and Walking Index 2023 doesn’t make good reading for those cycling revolutionaries. There has been no increase in the number of people cycling five days a week, and no increase in the number of people who cycle once a week compared to the 2019 report. Zero progress.

According to stats in the council’s Five Year Transport Plan, released in 2023, only 1.2% of trips in Liverpool City Region are by bike. The transport plan pushes back the target for 10% of trips to be made by bike from 2025 to 2027.

Given the total failure to make any progress on any of the stated active travel objectives since 2014 we need to have a thorough investigation so that the city can learn from its mistakes.

We have been left behind. Other cities have made transformational progress in the last decade.

Cyclists now outnumber motorists in Paris. In London the number of trips made by bike has increased by 20% since 2019. We need to learn from the successful active travel cities.