As part of the Vienna Declaration, the first supranational document on cycling policy transcending the EU was adopted in May 2021: the Pan-European Master Plan for Cycling Promotion.
The plan’s main purpose is to politically acknowledge the growing importance of cycling in transport and give guidance at a national level on how to support cycling across respective countries through central government policies. Covering 54 countries, including all 27 EU member states, it was developed under the umbrella of the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP), which was coordinated by WHO/Europe and UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).
Doubling cycling levels by 2030
The key objective (part I) of the cycling master plan is very ambitious: “To significantly increase cycling in every country to contribute to the overall target of doubling cycling in the region as a whole” by 2030. To that end, the plan says that all countries by then will have to develop and implement a national cycling policy.
Out of the 54 states within the pan-European region, a total of 23 European countries have (or had) a national cycling strategy or a similar policy document in place. Of which, as many as ten have expired, mostly by the end of 2020, and now need updating (correct as of December 2021). This means that 31 countries are yet to start developing a national strategy.
Thanks to the new cycling master plan, these countries don’t have to start from scratch. Part IV of the master plan includes eleven overall recommendations, each of them further elaborated in sub-recommendations. The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) had a key role in developing some of these, leading work on recommendations 3 (“Create a user-friendly cycle infrastructure”), 4 (“Provide sustainable investment and efficient funding mechanisms”) and 9 (“Promote cycling tourism”).
Notable actions and recommendations
- Development of a trans-European cycle network (TEC) based on official national cycle routes and EuroVelo networks to incorporate urban networks and regional cycle routes (paragraph 71).
- The Master Plan recommends to “develop minimum infrastructure quality standards” (para. 73) as well as allocating “Sufficient budgetary resources”. A “set share of the national transport budget should be allocated to cycling over all levels of governance” (para. 74). So far, only Ireland has already applied the ECF recommendation to invest at least 10% of the transport capital investments into cycling.
- Implementation of innovative road signs in various member states to facilitate cycling, such as signage for bicycle streets, contra-flow cycling on one-way streets and turn right/left/straight at red lights, often in different shape and colour (para. 136).
- While these innovations are welcome, it may confuse foreign visitors not familiar with such signs. This means that the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968, which also laid the basis for the Convention on Road Signs and Signals, is in dire need for another updating. Action point 106 is alluding to such an update.
- Regularly updating data on cycle use and the provision of relevant baseline data in order to monitor progress in implementing the master plan (para. 138).
- In order to assist countries in the development of national cycling policies, the plan announces the creation of a “Pan-European Competence Centre for Active Mobility” (para. 127). This however will only come to fruition when properly resourced by Member States.
Link: Historic milestone: 54 countries adopt the Pan-European Master Plan for Cycling Promotion | ECF