The lights change to red at Hyde Park Corner and tensions rise as the tail end of a queue of commuters becomes trapped on the roundabout, unable to move forward.

But there is no blaring of horns, just the dinging of a dozen bicycle bells. The cycle crossing installed in 1999 at the key junction in London is now so popular that it cannot cope with the number of riders in peak hours.

The phenomenon of cycle congestion is afflicting a growing number of junctions in inner London. Cyclists jostle for space in the green cycle boxes at the head of traffic lights; they race each other to be first through the narrow gap in the cycle path; they even argue over the last available space in the cycle rack.

At Angel, North London, more than 1,000 cyclists an hour use a cycle lane that bypasses the main intersection.

The cyclist may still be an endangered species in most of Britain, but London is in the grip of an unprecedented cycling boom. The number of cycle journeys in the capital has doubled since 2000 to more than half a million a day. In the morning peak in the City, 40 per cent of the vehicles are now bikes.

Some other cities from which pedal power had all but disappeared a decade ago are beginning to experience a renaissance. In Sheffield city centre, cycling has increased by 50 per cent since 2001; in Darlington, it is up 70 per cent in only three years.

While high fuel prices and rising car and bus commuting times are boosting the increase in cycling, there is another less tangible factor causing the switch from four wheels to two: after decades of being derided as the poor man’s mode of transport, cycling has become fashionable.

More than one in ten staff at the London headquarters of Morgan Stanley and PricewaterhouseCoopers cycle to work. Several big law firms have installed cycle parks. Eversheds has just opened a 105-space cycle facility with showers. At Barlow Lyde Gilbert, the number of lawyers cycling to work has doubled to 60 in the past year.

The success of Britain’s Olympic cycling team has spilt over on to the street, with thousands of people commuting on single-speed bikes designed for velodromes.

Tom Bogdanowicz, of the London Cycling Campaign, said that despite £7 million being spent on extra cycle parking stands in the capital since 2005, there was an acute shortage in key locations. “Four bikes are being attached to stands designed for two because people are so desperate to find somewhere to park,” he said. “At the main stations, especially Waterloo and Paddington, cyclists are now finding their bikes are becoming trapped in a tangle of frames and wheels.”

He said that improved cycle routes were making cycling much more attractive. Cyclists no longer have to compete for space with other traffic on Southwark and Blackfriars bridges, where wide cycle lanes have been installed. However, further improvements are in doubt after Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, this week cut £10 million from the budget for new cycle routes.

Across Britain the rate of construction of cycle lanes has fallen from more than 224 miles (360km) a year between 2001 and 2004 to only 87 miles last year. Cycle sales, however, have shown a recent sharp upward trend, from 3.12 million nationally in 2005 to 3.48 million in 2006 and 3.64 million last year.

In June the Department for Transport announced £100 million of investment in cycling for 12 towns and cities. Bristol will get the largest sum: £11.4 million, which will partly be spent on creating a Paris or Vienna-style on-street bike-hire scheme.

Cycleways will be created to link the suburbs with the city centre and the number of children receiving cycle training at school will rise from 1,100 a year to 2,000. Rusting bikes will also be liberated from garden sheds, restored and given to those unable to afford a new mount. The scheme will rely on the public donating their old bikes to a team of mechanics, who will be paid to repair them.

The Department for Transport said that the funding package “aims to encourage 2.5 million more adults and children to take up cycling, improve their fitness and beat the traffic”.

Another encouraging sign for cyclists comes from a survey by the Cyclists Touring Club, which found that there was safety in numbers, with cities that have high levels of cycling recording the lowest casualty rates. In York, where 12 per cent of people cycle to work, there were 10 serious injuries per 10,000 cycle commuters. Across Britain, 2.8 per cent cycle to work and there were 32 injuries per 10,000 cycle commuters.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Times Christmas appeal: Letter from the Editor
• Conferences — what a waste of money
• Schools supremo learns a painful lesson