Cycling has been on the increase for years in London. It got its first big bounce with the congestion charge in 2003 and another with the introduction of bikes to hire in 2009.

Both incumbent mayor Boris Johnson and his predecessor Ken Livingstone agreed to the target of a 400% increase in cycling by around 2025. London is on track to hit this target, but the work we've done up until now – in inner London – has been the easy bit. The real challenge is to increase cycling in outer London suburbs, where an estimated two-thirds of the potential new cycling trips must be made.

The mayor's new cycling vision appears to take this outer London challenge seriously. He hopes to have a £913m cycling budget to be spent over the next 10 years (as long as the government doesn't cut his grant again). Some £100m of this pot will be spread between a small number of the 20 outer London boroughs chosen for a new scheme.

The project will focus on the creation of "mini-Hollands" to transform conditions in areas of outer London and make safe, pleasant cycling a reality for local people.

Safety is the big barrier to cycling; it has become more dangerous since Boris Johnson took over as mayor. So why is the mayor limiting the initial take up to no more than four boroughs, when we know that many more have indicated an interest?

Transport for London commissioner Peter Hendy quite reasonably claims that the ability of local authorities to deliver any transport project has been put under sever strain because of government cuts in funding. But if boroughs are putting forward bids to take part in a cycling scheme, surely Johnson should be supporting them rather than placing artificial limits on participation.

Another argument for taking it slow is that these "mini Hollands" are innovations that need testing. Yet there is plenty of experience from other countries, or even from within inner London of local authorities doing the right things. Hackney, for example, now has more people commuting by bike than car.

We learned lessons from the government-funded cycling demonstration towns several years ago. Haven't we gone beyond the piloting stage?

My fear is that TfL simply does not like funding lots of smaller schemes run by local authorities – even when they add up to a big strategic shift in the transport system.

We had exactly the same problem with the 'smarter travel' pilots under Ken Livingston. These were meant to encourage use of sustainable transport, and piloted in only three London boroughs before promises of a roll out across outer London when successful.

Despite positive results, the scheme was praised but then cancelled by Boris Johnson. I can imagine the next, mayor doing exactly the same with the 'mini Hollands' when the current, mayor leaves office in 2016.

Outer London has missed the cycling revolution and that needs to change urgently. Johnson should promise to fund any borough who come forward with a strong, viable plan.

Cycling is incredible value for money and the mayor should ensure that TfL put it at the top of their list of things to fund when money is available.

Darren Johnson is a member of the London Assembly transport committee

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Join the local government network for analysis, best practice and the latest career opportunities

• This article was amended on 23 May 2013 to clarify that £100m will be spent on up to four boroughs chosen for the "mini-Holland scheme".