Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has announced that Greater Manchester residents are walking and cycling more than ever, with over 700 million active travel trips recorded in 2025.
The latest Active Travel Annual Report has now been published, and highlights that where infrastructure has been completed, active travel rates have surged.
This includes a 62% increase in cycle trips on Chorlton Cycle Way in 2025 compared to 2021. On Oxford Road there were 7,000 cyclists a day in October 2025 – up from 2,000 a day before there was a segregated cycleway.
The total number of active travel trips in Greater Manchester was over 700 million in 2025 and has increased each year between 2021 – when the total number of active travel trips stood at just over 510 million – and 2024.
TfGM stated that this has been supported in part by a post-pandemic recovery in overall travel demand, and population growth.
Active travel currently accounts for around 33% of trips by Greater Manchester residents, with an ambition for 50% of all journeys in Greater Manchester to be made by walking, cycling and public transport by 2050.
Future investment includes improvements to footpaths, junctions, crossings and cycle facilities that will eventually lead to around 2,700km of Bee Network routes for walking, wheeling and cycling.
Active travel commissioner, Dame Sarah Storey, said: “It’s great to see the progress being reported in the 2025 Active Travel Annual report.
“The goal is to enable a greater choice for people in how they make their journeys, with walking and cycling being the glue that binds all the modes of the Bee Network together.
“This is demonstrated by the fact 90% of people are walking as part of their public transport journeys, but walking is also important to the Mayoral commitment on School Streets and progress has been made during 2025 on the ambition of having 100 permanent School Streets by 2028.”
