Cycling is one of the priorities identified by the Polish government in its draft National Recovery and Resilience Plan that was published at the end of September. ECF welcomes this recognition and calls on other national authorities to follow the Polish approach.

Sustainable mobility, with great emphasis on cycling, has been announced by Poland as one of the priority objectives in the recovery strategy. According to the “Sustainable mobility” project, which is a part of the drafted plan, investments in cycling

“…  are primarily aimed at people who want to get to work, school or shopping quickly, cheaply and safely. The implementation of projects will reduce both their financial costs and travel-related time losses. During the pandemic, bicycle traffic in cities increased by 50%. Pedestrian traffic also grew larger. The new needs of citizens must be followed by infrastructure investments so that everyone can reach their destinations safely and comfortably”.

The scope of the new mobility scheme includes the creation of new bicycle infrastructure, the modernization of the existing one (which often does not meet modern standards) and the creation of accompanying infrastructure (e.g. bicycle service points) to ensure the continuity of bicycle routes in the functional areas of cities. The scheme also supports the construction of tourist bicycle routes, the function of which is said to be twofold - they enable daily transport on short distances, but also create long-distance connections between the most important cities and areas attractive for tourists.

As many as 14 out of 16 Polish regions recognized cycle projects as crucial for rebuilding regional economies and strengthening resilience to COVID-19 and submitted cycling-related proposals to the Polish National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The list of projects includes, among others, the construction of the network of main cycling connections in the Podkarpackie Voivodship, with an estimated budget of PLN 1.5 billion (EUR ~ 340 million) and a program for the development of bicycle paths along main provincial roads in Wielkopolskie Voivodship, with an estimated budget of PLN 300 million (EUR ~ 67 million).

Although formal negotiations between Member States and the European institutions on the national recovery and resilience plans have yet to starts, member states have already started working on them. One of the conditions for using the available funds is to allocate 37% of them to the implementation of the Green Deal goals, which assumes the EU's achievement of climate neutrality by 2050. Investments in bicycle infrastructure are a great way to meet this requirement and increase the resilience of economies.

#MoreCycling means creating jobs, keeping social distance, better air quality, less traffic congestion and increased well-being of European citizens.