Encouraging Cycling: Lessons from Five European Cities

Across Europe, cities are experimenting with ways to make cycling a more attractive transport option. A series of policy briefs presenting activities to promote cycling and overcome barriers to cycling in five cities have now been published. 

Developed by the SPECIFIC project, the briefs highlight specific initiatives that can be undertaken by local governments, employers, non-governmental organisations and other cycling advocates. Tim Schwanen, SPECIFIC Principal Investigator at University of Oxford, sets the context for these publications explainging that "safe and comfortable cycling for everyone in the city is an essential element in an inclusive and fair low-carbon transport system in small and medium-sized cities across Europe". Schwanen adds

"A just transition in urban transport requires a wide range of actions from local governments, employers, and all other cycling advocates.” 

Promoting cycling to work: The Employer’s role

Partnerships with employers and e-bike trials worked to promote cycling in cities like Maastricht,  Bristol and Bellinzona. Maastricht’s results highlight how companies actively encouraged staff to commute by bike, using temporary financial incentives for e-bike use and discounted purchase options. In Bristol, employers could loan e-cargo bikes provided by the Sustainable Urban Freight Project. 

These and similar trials allowed organizations to test the feasibility of replacing car and van trips with bike trips. However, some employees may not want to give up car commuting completely. 

In Maastricht, a research experiment found that inflexible reimbursement procedures that do not cover different modes of transport, can hinder employees from cycling to work. Similarly, some employers may prefer to encourage voluntary use of e-bikes and e-cargo bikes. In Bristol, many organizations were reluctant to encourage staff to use e-cargo bikes, as biking may be perceived as a less comfortable experience than driving in all weather conditions. 

“To motivate employees and spark interest, employers could deploy gamification techniques,” says Caterina Berlusconi, Research Assistant at University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI).  Bellinzona’s brief highlights an app-based initiative, Bikecoin, which challenged employers offering awards, sometimes monetary. The sense of competition resulted to be an important driver for employees, triggered by it to start cycling.

Safety and infrastructure for cycling: What authorities can do

Discontinuous bike lanes and safety concerns can hinder people from cycling in all cities. When cyclists are forced to share roads with cars or navigate broken paths, safety and comfort suffer. The briefs on Graz and Poznań highlight delays in small-scale infrastructure improvements, which could have quickly enhanced cycling conditions, and instead were too slow to materialize. 

Perceiving roads as unsafe is particularly noticeable among families, as many parents are unwilling to take their children to school by bike or let them cycle on their own. In the brief on Bellinzona, initiatives such as a volunteer driven initiative to accompany children to school, Bicibus, and a twice-yearly bike mechanics course help riders feel more confident and safer on the road. Caterina Berlusconi, Research Assistant at University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), says

“Municipalities could lead more initiatives to promote cycling and take inspiration from what we present in SPECIFC's Policy Briefs.”

Bellinzona has invested in secure parking at public transport interchanges and created low-speed zones to protect cyclists. Initiatives such as a covered and video-monitored bicycle parking area, Velostation, providing tools to perform small mechanic fixes and lockers to easily store personal things, is one example of how to make cycling more convenient. 

Explore these and other SPECIFIC project results from Bellinzona (Switzerland), Bristol (the UK), Graz (Austria), Maastricht (Netherlands) and Poznań (Poland). Access the publications in other languages than in English here.