Studies show that choosing to cycle in London has grown in popularity and car ownership has decreased. Families in Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets are ditching their cars and the number of bicycle commuters has risen. Research has found that fewer households own a vehicle in 2011 than in 2001.
Recently released research shows that all four East London Lines boroughs were 
found by Office for National Statistics to have a smaller percentage of households with access to a car in 2011. The biggest fall was in Hackney where only 35% of residents have access to a car which is down from the 44% in 2001.
Over the same time span, the number of residents choosing to cycle to work has risen with Hackney being the most drastic change again where 14% of workers cycle to work. This is the highest percentage in London.
Only 58% of households in London have access to a car which is a 63% decrease from 2001. Outside of the capital the numbers of commuters and bike riders hasn’t really changed with only a 2.6% of workers choosing to commute via cycling.
Croydon, which is the furthest from congestion charge zones of all the ELL boroughs has the highest percentage of car owners at 67%. It is the only ELL borough with higher percentages of car access that the London average.
The increasing cost of driving may have contributed to the number of commuters choosing to cycle. Cycling is a cheap way of getting around and has the added obvious health benefits. In London especially the congestion charges put a lot of people off travelling to work via car as bikes can be rented for £2 a day in the TfL scheme.
However, motoring organisation AA has said that the reduction in cars is due to the lack of suitable places to keep them. A lot of housing developments in central areas don’t provide residents with a space for their vehicles.
Boris Johnson also played a part in the increase of cycling through the introduction of the Boris Bikes around London. In 2013 Johnson published his vision for cycling in London and announced a drastic increase in spending in outer London: “At the very heart of this strategy is my belief that helping cycling will not just help cyclists. It will create better places for everyone. It means less traffic, more trees, more places to sit and eat a sandwich. It means new life, new vitality and lower crime on underused streets. It means more seats on the Tube, less competition for a parking place and fewer cars in front of yours at the lights.”