Friday, 29 March 2024
NewsPolitics

Cycling is in top 5 of most tweeted Mayor of London election issues, Corbyn arrives to polls by bike

According to Brandwatch, Cycling is the fifth most tweeted about election issue in London, with ‘Transport’ and ‘housing’ leading the charge on 25% each.

As the UK hits the polling stations, Londoners are seemingly most concerned about how they’ll move around the city in future.

At 6%, air quality ranks highly too, as does the controversial Garden Bridge proposal, which despite being people friendly, will require cyclists to get off and push. In Boris Johnson’s term air pollution has increasingly become a concern among Londoners. As revealed in this ECF study, London’s congestion charge has made a dent in particulate matter levels and contributed about five percent of its revenue back into cycling.

On the day of the vote, Labour’s Sadiq Khan appears to have the edge over Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith and has seen the lion’s share of social media mentions at 41%.

Khan has pledged to triple London’s cycling infrastructure, as well as export the Mini Holland scheme into every London borough. However, Khan is a notable absentee when placing an actual spend figure on active travel. Rivals Sian Berry (Green) and Caroline Pidgeon (Lib Dem) have pledged the greatest spend for active travel at £43.9 and around £40 a head, respectively.

Voting in London today? Have a look at our breakdown of which candidates are offering the most spend per head on cycling, among other commitments to create a livable city.

Update: Always good to see politicians taking to bikes, but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a particularly high profile figure to turn out on two wheels:

corbyn