Skip to content
Everyday
Infrastructure
Focus areas/Cycling

Cycling

We support research, design guidance and pilots that give people who cycle in Nigerian cities safe and continuous space to do so.

Contents

About this area

Cycling is cheap, efficient over short distances and already part of how many people in Nigerian cities work and travel. Delivery riders, couriers, traders and students use bicycles every day, on carriageways shared with motor traffic and with little provision for parking or crossing.

Policy supports a different outcome. Lagos drafted a non-motorised transport policy in 2018, which LAMATA describes as approved by the governor, and the Federal Road Safety Corps has expressed support for a national cycling policy. What has been missing is the design guidance that would tell an engineer how wide a cycle lane should be, how it should meet a junction, and what it should be built from, together with pilots that show it working.

Our grants in this area address that gap through research, design guidance and pilots, in five strands:

  • Working cyclists, analysing how people who cycle for a living use the street network, beginning with delivery riders in Lagos.
  • Corridor design guidance, setting out widths, surfaces, separation and junction treatments suited to Nigerian streets.
  • Campus routes, working with universities and state governments to pilot continuous routes on defined sites.
  • Parking and transit access, linking cycling to bus rapid transit and rail stations.
  • Policy implementation, supporting agencies to put existing commitments on cycling into practice.

Interested in supporting this area? Contact us.

Research agenda

Open questions in this area. Students, researchers and entrepreneurs may take up a question or propose their own within it.

Which routes do working cyclists in Lagos use most, and how do bicycle trips compare with motorbike and e-bike trips over similar distances?
In preparation
What width, surface and separation should a protected cycle lane on a Nigerian urban arterial provide?
Open
What would a protected cycle lane on a campus road cost to build and maintain?
Open
What stops women and lower-income residents from cycling, and what would change that?
Open
Where should cycle parking be provided at bus rapid transit and rail stations?
Open

Resources

Policy and evidence on cycling in Nigeria.

Our report, 2026Who pays for the pavement? Financing walking and cycling in Lagos Our report, two-page summaryWho pays for the pavement? Summary Our database, 2026Street rulebook Policy, 2018Lagos Non-Motorised Transport Policy AgencyLAMATA, non-motorised transport StatementFRSC on World Bicycle Day PilotTUMI Challenge Lagos walkway pilot Reporting, 2026Inside the Lagos delivery boom
Other focus areas

The cycling programme was established in October 2026 as the first programme of Everyday Infrastructure. To discuss a project in this area, contact us.