Cycling directions for London after dark
Night Mode routes your bike ride along lit streets, past parks that lock at dusk, and away from unlit cut-throughs. Same SuperSafe™ model, tuned for the dark.
Night Mode is not slower. It is just better lit.
Same ride home, Old Street to Kensington. One minute more, and nearly all of it lit.
How we pick your route →Riding at night in London: three things worth knowing
Night rides are calmer
Only a quarter of cyclist collisions happen after dark. Fewer cars, fewer people, less to dodge.
But when things go wrong, they go worse
Late at night one in four collisions is serious. Empty roads mean faster drivers, so we keep you off the big ones.
Most streets are not lit
Less than half of London's roads and paths have lighting. Night Mode knows which ones do, and sticks to them.
Based on Transport for London collision records, 2021–2025. Read the full analysis →
SuperSafe™ navigation
Turn-by-turn directions built for city cycling
SuperSafe™ weighs every street for traffic, junctions, lighting, roadworks and rider reports, then talks you through the calm way there. The map shows what it is weighing.
How it works →What it weighs
Night cycling in London: your questions
What is Night Mode?
Night Mode is how Cyclemate routes you after dark. Once the sun has set, SuperSafe prefers streets with lighting, stops sending you through parks that lock their gates, and avoids unlit cut-throughs, while still keeping you on quiet streets. It switches on by itself, based on the time of your ride.
Is it safe to cycle in London at night?
Yes, if you choose your streets. One in four collisions that injure a cyclist in London (25%) happens in the dark. Roads are quieter at night, but traffic is faster: between 10pm and 5am, 25% of collisions kill or seriously injure the cyclist, against 20% during the working day. A lit, quiet route matters more at night than it does by day.
How does Cyclemate know which streets are lit?
From OpenStreetMap, which records lighting on roads and paths and the positions of street lamps. About 43% of London’s roads and paths are mapped as lit: around 10,000 km of 23,500 km. The data is maintained by volunteers and is approximate, so a street with no lighting information is treated as unlit.
Is a Night Mode route slower?
Barely. On a ride from Old Street to Kensington, the Night Mode route takes 47 minutes against 46 for the daytime route, and 98% of it is lit against 76%. The route summary shows the share of lit streets and the share of quiet streets, so you can compare before you set off.
Do I need to turn Night Mode on?
No. Night Mode follows the clock. Routes planned for after sunset use it automatically, and you can plan ahead by choosing a departure date and time. The map switches to a dark style and shows the share of your route that is lit.
Does Night Mode avoid parks and towpaths?
It avoids the ones that are closed or unlit. Many London parks lock their gates at dusk, and canal towpaths and park paths are mostly unlit, so after dark SuperSafe routes around them and uses lit streets nearby.
Where is Night Mode available?
Night Mode is available in London and New York City, on iPhone, Android and the web. It is part of the free app.