"by his measure, this boom in cycling would be reflected in a fall in the number of trips per person per year"
This of course 'dis/proves' that well known phrase about statistics and lies!
This thread shows that cyclists have un/healthy cynicism about statistics/PR.
Or is that a high proportion of the small number of people who post on CCE or an unrepresentative or statistically insIgnificant sample...
It's slightly unfortunate that there is the '6 months ago' benchmark, which allows for 'seasonal questions'.
I think it's highly likely that more people (in the UK) are riding bikes than a year ago. There is plenty of evidence (not least anecdotally from people on here) that people who start as leisure - or even 'sport' cyclists - often go on to become commuters or 'everyday cyclists'. Though, as Morningsider points out, the mileage covered is still a fraction of what it once was - and presumably the number of people is much smaller too.
As for transport v sport, at least it registers in both places. Still needs to be a higher 'health' priority - and of course people working in these three fields need to co-operate more (and education and planning and...)