Should the EU embrace a target of doubling cycling over the next 10 years in Europe? And should therefore at least 10% of the EU transport funds be ring-fenced for cycling?

Read more on the EU Cycling Strategy website.

Strongest support

Recommendation no. 3, “Every relevant infrastructure project should take cycling into consideration as much as possible”, was judged most positively as it obtained the biggest share of “strongly agree” votes – 86.6%, followed by “The EU should prioritize walking and cycling over individual motorized transport” (79.5%) and by “The EU should set a target of doubling cycling across the EU over the next 10 years” (74.7%).

Strong support but notable opposition

On the other side of the voting scale, the recommendation no. 8, “all new motorized four-wheelers, buses and heavy goods vehicle should be equipped with Intelligent Speed Assistance systems”, received most skepticism – 35% respondents strongly agreed while 18% disagreed or strongly disagreed, which was the highest negative share for a particular policy action. One of the possible explanations is that the respondents probably did not know what an Intelligent Speed Assistance system (ISA) is. Generally speaking, we can say that the policy recommendations which are rather general were ranked higher than the policy recommendations which encompass more concrete actions such as the introduction of a 30 km/h speed limit in urban areas in the EU, which was second from the end.

ECF Policy Director, Ádám Bodor, commented: “The strong backing from respondents for the 15 key policy recommendations encourage us to continue with the EU Cycling Strategy campaign, which has already found the support of about 60 organisations and businesses. In fact, as early as 25 November, an expert group of more than 20 participants will meet to formulate a first set of draft policy recommendations for the EU Cycling Strategy blueprint document.”

Respondents’ suggestions

The survey also invited respondents to make suggestions of which we received more than 230. A short selection includes:

“A multi-departmental focus group, comprising Health, Transport, Education and Environment to be established to drive the cycling agenda within the EU. A matching national interdepartmental group in each member state would implement policy driven from EU equivalent. The benefits to health, environment and transport justifies this.”

“All external costs/benefits of different transport options (cycling, walking, car, public transport etc) should be assessed and taken into account in determining the value of transport schemes. These include air pollution, impact on health, noise, cost of road traffic collisions, traffic congestion etc.”

“As an inclusive cycling charity that campaigns for the recognition and removal of barriers for disabled cyclists, we would like to see an EU cycling strategy adopt the following key measures: 1. Better recognition • The visibility of disabled cyclists needs to be improved: many cycling policy documents fail to incorporate images/photos and mentions of disabled cyclists and non-standard cycles (e.g. tricycles, handcycles, recumbents). Moreover, in transport policy more generally it is our experience that disabled people are much more likely to be perceived as non-cyclists (e.g. pedestrians or car drivers) than cyclists. It must be made evident that disabled people can and do cycle and we urge that the strategy exhibits and enshrines inclusivity, both in the imagery and language that it adopts. • We would like to see cycles have legal recognition as mobility aids, when used by a disabled person for that purpose.”

“As the number of cycle commuters is increasing, how a driver reacts to a bicycle on the road plays a major role in increasing the number of cyclists. In my opinion, it should included in the automobile driving test. Most drivers are not willing to leave 1.5 metres because they are not instructed to do so from the very start.”

“Guidelines/requirements for national cycling strategies; Cycling awards to cities and individuals; if 10% is too high, a more realistic percentage could be set for EU investments; EU knowledge centre; EU network on cycling expertise with dedicated funding that helps all MS.”

“In the EU there should be one card / app for all bicycle rental systems and payed parking systems.”

“There should be an analysis on how to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement (Limit of 1,5 - 2 degrees will afford -80 to 95% GHG emissions), and how the Transport sector can contribute to reach this (full decarbonisation of the Transport sector in the second half of the century). On the basis of this analysis the share of non motorised transport shall be derived. This shall be the Basis for investments in walking and cycling infrastructure and also for regulations regarding multimodal aspects. It is of crucial importance to include infrastructural lock in effects in this Analysis.”

Several respondents specifically commented on the ‘doubling of cycling across the EU over the next 10 years’ statement.

“I hope that if the EU set a target of doubling cycling across the EU, the EU can help member states with this. With good measure tools, and funds, and gather the local powers (organisations from the third sector) this won't be a problem.”

But also: “Target in measure 2 should be more aggressive/ambitious: doubling in 10 years is not unrealistic, having seen the impact of E-bikes in the last couple of years or more in general the progresses of cycling mobility. Therefore should be 150% or doubling in 5-7 years instead.”

Notes:

• The complete results of the ECS survey can be downloaded here.
• Survey methodology: The survey included 15 closed statements. Respondents could choose between ‘Strongly agree’, ‘Agree’, ‘Disagree’, ‘Strongly disagree’ and ‘I don’t know’. In addition, respondents could choose the 4 most suitable or needed policy actions out of 15 and rank them according to their preference. An open question asking for suggestions/recommendations related to the EU Cycling Strategy received 231 entries.
• The EU Cycling Strategy Mission Statement says: “Encouraging more people to cycle more often’ across the EU has the potential to unlock socio-economic benefits worth billions of Euros. Stakeholders from diverse backgrounds have therefore joined forces to develop a blueprint for an EU Cycling Strategy which will recommend objectives and define actions falling within EU competence. Published at the Velo-city 2017 conference in June it will then be submitted to the European Commission as a new inspiration for action.”
• More info: www.cyclingstrategy.eu