Wales spent hundreds of millions on walking and cycling routes — here’s what the data shows
The Welsh Conservatives have called active travel spending in Wales a waste of public money after a Welsh Government review found no significant increase in walking or cycling rates.
Sam Rowlands MS, the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, said the review confirmed “what many people across Wales already know.”
The Welsh Government published its formal review of the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 in February 2026, more than three years after it was originally due.
The review found that Welsh Government invested £334 million on active travel schemes in local authorities between 2015-16 and 2024-25, including £247 million through the dedicated Active Travel Fund since it was established in 2018.
Annual spending through the Active Travel Fund rose from just under £9 million in 2018-19 to just under £47 million in 2024-25.
Despite that increased spending, the review said cycling rates among adults barely moved.
In 2013-14, 6% of people aged 16 and over cycled for travel at least once a week.
By 2024-25, that figure was 7%.
Walking rates fell over the same period, though the review flagged that the measurement changed in 2017-18 from walks of at least five minutes to walks of at least ten minutes, making direct comparison unreliable.
In 2013-14, 65% of adults walked for travel at least once a week under the five-minute measure.
Under the ten-minute measure introduced in 2017-18, the figure was 58%.
By 2024-25 it was 52%.
The review itself said the changes in survey methodology and the disruption caused by the pandemic “mean that it is very difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from this data” but that “it suggests that there has not been a significant increase in levels of active travel at the national level so far.”
Mr Rowlands said: “This latest review confirms what many people across Wales already know, Labour and Plaid Cymru’s active travel strategy is a huge waste of taxpayers’ money.”
He said: “Despite spending vast sums of public money, there has been no significant increase in active travel, an extraordinary level of investment for so little measurable return.”
He added: “Labour, propped up by Plaid Cymru, cannot keep pouring hundreds of millions into a scheme that is not working. We need a more practical, value-for-money approach that actually works for communities.”
The Active Travel Act was passed in 2013 and came into force in September 2014, eight years before Plaid Cymru entered a co-operation agreement with Welsh Labour in the Senedd.
The review did report progress in other areas.
The total length of existing active travel routes in Wales grew from 1,734km in 2021 to 1,957km in 2025.
In 2024-25, local authorities reported building 49.5km of new active travel routes, along with new cycle parking, pedestrian crossings and dropped kerbs.
School-based programmes showed more measurable results.
The Active Journeys programme, delivered by the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, reported a 14.4% increase in active travel as the usual mode of getting to school among participating pupils in 2024-25, with car use dropping by 22.4%.
The review concluded that “without the Act, it is unlikely that Wales would have progressed as far as it has” and found “no major case for legislative reform.”
It did identify data collection as a persistent weakness, noting that the only national data source up to now has been the National Survey for Wales, which does not capture the total number of trips people make or by which modes.
A new National Travel Survey launched in March 2025 is intended to address that gap, with first results expected in 2026.
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