Best practices for a broad usage of bicycles can be found in most
Dutch and some Danish and German cities. Yet, those cities benefit from
their geographical situation (only small hills) which generally makes cycling
more attractive. Other recommended practises include the city-bike concepts of Vienna and Copenhagen.
The City of Leipzig managed to increase bicycle
traffic from 5,2% (1987; 1994: 5,8%) to 13,2% (1998)
by taking or planning the measures and actions recommended above. Those actions
will continue to play a major role in the cities policies in the years to come.
In Seville, the local Hispalense University
initiated in 1996 a project to establish a cycling network for its 70,000
students who often have to change between different campuses. While Seville
City Council will carry out the necessary construction efforts (new bicycle
lanes), the university makes sure that all of its building can be accesses by
bike and that secured bicycle parking facilities are established. The project
responses the demands of students and contributes to a better circulation as
well as to a healthier environment (for more information please consult: www.universidaddesevilla.com).
The Swedish City of Malmö is
proud to call itself the “Cycling City” as the municipality provides
approximately 370 km of cycling ways (2003; target to increase the length until
2013 to 520 km) compared to a street network for motorised vehicles of 900 km.
Until 2013, the city aims to decrease car traffic by 2 – 3% and to increase
bicycle usage by 10%. Estimations show that even the slight reduction of car
traffic can reduce car emissions by 5% as short-distance car traffic (catalysts
do not work at their optimum until the engine has reached its working
temperature) is more pollutant. The chances to reach this
goal are well as Malmö benefits from its topography
and promotes safe bicycle lanes as well as secure parking facilities.
Other modal split data from selected European cities
(share of bicycle traffic): Münster (D): 34%, Dessau (D): 27%, Basel (SUI): 23%, The Hague (NL): 24%, Freiburg (D) / Amsterdam (NL): 20%, Parma (I): 19%, Potsdam
(D): 17%, Cologne (D) / Bern (SUI): 15%, Strasbourg (F): 12%, Dresden (D): 10%
(see http://www.dresden.de/index.html?node=6725),
Frankfort am Main (D): 6%, Dublin (IRL) / Chemnitz
(D): 5%.
Copenaghen (Denmark). Within its integrated traffic
plan a stong emphasis was put on the further
development of cycling, which already accounts for 30% of home to work trips in
the summer compared with 37% of public transport and 30% of the private cars.
Erlangen (Germany) has been promoting a cycling
policy for over 20 years by developing a dense network of cycleways
accompanied by detailed signalling and parking facilities and priority is given
to cyclists on certain routes. As a
result cycling has more than doubled its share of city traffic since 1974 (from
14% to 29%). In the same period the car
traffic remained stable at around 40% but the share of pedestrians has fallen.
Groningen (The Netherlands) implemented a programme to
favour the use of bycicle and public transport based
on the idea to implement restrictive parking policies near facilities, shopping
centres, and other attractive locations.
The city also improved its bus service through the integration of different
networks with separate bus lanes and priority at the traffic signals. Groningen is
today the world third ranking city for the bicycle use.
Trondheim (Norway) City centers
surrounded by hills commonly have heavy air pollution with a negative effect on
cycling. Steep hills foster steep
inclines in the suburb–center linkages, which are also serious barriers to
cycling. Hilly cities may therefore have
a bigger unrevealed potential of cycling, than flat
cities and clever located Bicycle Lifts may reveal this interesting
potential. The lift will reduce the
strain and unwanted sweat of people who want to use bicycle as their daily form
of transport. Normally the bicycle lift carry the cyclists up onto
topographically higher levels, where you have less pollution, less noise and
less conflicts with the car traffic.
Since the installation of the Bicycle Lift, cycling in this particular
area of Trondheim has
increased by 150 %. More personal trips
are now being made by bike than by public transport and Trondheim has a
general increase in cycling which rates the highest in Norway.
This positive effect is not due
to the lift alone (the prototype is not more than 130 m long) but there is no
doubt that the lift has raised the general image, attention and motivation of
cycling in Trondheim. The normal lack of consistent proof of its
effects on peoples biking habits is a major deterrent to a faster market
penetration.
Other examples :
·
How can Bicycles contribute to clean air? “Cycling project in the Metropolitan Area of Seville”
Further Examples: • Road Infrastructures
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