Case Study: Identifying challenges for Milton Keynes cyclists and providing an evidence-base to improve safety and accessibility across the network

About the Organisation

Milton Keynes is one of the UK’s best-known “new towns”, built with innovation at its core. It is especially recognised for its commitment to active travel through the Redway network—over 200 miles of shared-use paths designed to keep people walking, wheeling, cycling, and scooting safely separated from traffic.

The Redways provide convenient, car-free routes across the city and even accommodate innovative services like delivery robots. Alongside this, Super Redways cater to longer journeys and commuting, while two National Cycle Routes (6 and 51) run through the network, connecting Milton Keynes to the wider UK cycling infrastructure.

As the city continues to grow, Milton Keynes City Council is committed to further developing and improving the Redway network, ensuring it remains safe, accessible, and fit for the future.

The Challenge

Despite its extensive infrastructure, Milton Keynes City Council recognised that traditional data sources weren’t enough to fully understand how people were experiencing the Redway and road network.

The Council wanted:

• Real-world insights into how residents use the network day-to-day.

• A deeper understanding of interactions at road intersections, where cyclists and drivers meet.

• An evidence base to guide improvements, ensuring walking, wheeling, and cycling are safer and more attractive transport options.

The Project

To address these needs, See.Sense partnered with Milton Keynes City Council to deliver a large-scale community engagement and data insights project:

• 100 See.Sense lights and 31 SUMMIT2 trackers distributed to residents and businesses.

• The project launched in August 2024, with renewal in August 2025 to continue building data over time.

• Participants contributed anonymised sensor and perception data, enabling the Council to see not just where people travelled, but also how safe and comfortable those journeys felt.

How We Helped

In Year 1, See.Sense delivered a detailed report that gave Milton Keynes unprecedented visibility into how the Redway and road network was being used.

Key insights included:

• Popular and less-used routes visualised using mapping software (Leaflet), helping the Council understand travel patterns and identify potential barriers.
  

• Braking and swerving hotspots at intersections, pinpointing where safety interventions were most urgently needed.

• Perception reports from riders overlaid with sensor data, adding valuable context and validating the evidence. AI tools are now accelerating this process, making reporting faster and more powerful.

• Gender-based comparisons of cycling behaviour, highlighting differences such as route choice and concerns around unlit or remote areas—providing evidence to guide more inclusive infrastructure planning.

Crucially, this wasn’t just a one-off snapshot. With more data being added every day, Milton Keynes now has a growing, living dataset to support continuous improvement.

The Impact

The project is already helping Milton Keynes City Council:

• Prioritise interventions at the most problematic intersections.

• Build a strong evidence base for planning and investment decisions.

• Ensure that walking, wheeling, and cycling infrastructure is designed to be safe, inclusive, and accessible for everyone.

Testimonial

“See.Sense has given us invaluable insight into how people use the Redway and road network in Milton Keynes. The data and reports help us understand challenges, especially at intersections, and provide a strong evidence base to further improve safety and ensure more accessible walking, wheeling and cycling routes across Milton Keynes.”
— Hayley Roche, Senior Transport Planner (Walking, Cycling and Smarter Travel), Milton Keynes City Council