West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s CityConnect programme has seen a combined total of more than five million trips by bike counted on its cycling and walking routes across the region, the authority has reported.

The figure was confirmed after collating the latest monthly user numbers from April 2021. The figures are taken from fixed-route counters across the range of infrastructure delivered by the Combined Authority’s dedicated cycling and walking programme including its flagship scheme, the 23km Bradford Leeds Cycle Superhighway, which opened in summer 2016.

This means a combined total of 5,100,136 bike trips have now been recorded across all CityConnect routes since the first route opened in 2016, reports BikeBiz.

Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin said: “I’m delighted to see the Combined Authority hit this major milestone, which shows just how many people in our region are already choosing to cycle and walk for at least some of their journeys.

“Greener and cleaner transport is absolutely key to my pledge as Mayor to improve transport options for communities in our region. Through these CityConnect figures we can see how many people are happy to leave their cars at home and get out on their bikes, if we only support them to do that.”

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, transport portfolio lead for West Yorkshire, added: “These fantastic figures mark great progress in the Combined Authority’s aim to increase the share of active travel across West Yorkshire. We want to see walking and cycling become major forms of transport and the first choice for short journeys, so this really is just the start for active travel in our region.”