Get on your bike!

Spring has come, it is time to switch to a bike – it is what many people think and take their bike out of the basement, thus feeding the growing group of urban cyclists. In Poznań, for example, cycling traffic has doubled within just a few years. Are Polish cities ready for a cycling revolution? How to change them, so that cyclists ride more comfortably and safely? And finally – how does the bicycle change the cities?

On a windy and rainy day in November 2022, a traffic survey was conducted in the City of London. What did it reveal? Although the time of year did not encourage cycling, 27 per cent of people chose this mode of transport. At rush hour it was as high as 40 per cent, with more bikes than cars.

Compared to 2019, the number of cyclists in the City increased by as much as 102 per cent, while drivers fell by 64 per cent. Why exactly is the Covid pandemic a cut-off date here? During the lockdowns that followed, many people found that a car was not necessary for them and switched to bicycles. These, incidentally, were recognised as one of the safer modes of transport. This was followed by cycle-friendly decisions by city managers – for example, in Paris, around 160 km of cycle paths were added in 2020, a third of which were created by closing streets to car traffic. One in ten Parisians commutes to work or school on two wheels.

In comparison with London or Paris, Polish cities come out rather poorly, although it must be admitted, that from year to year it is getting better. Gdańsk in 2022 recorded the highest volume of cycling traffic in the history of the measurements – the number of journeys increased by 112.3 per cent during the year. In Warsaw, more than 37 per cent more cyclists were registered in 2022 than in 2021 and more than 58 per cent more than in 2020.

In Poznan, the last traffic survey of 2019 showed that 8.4 per cent of journeys in the city are made by bicycle. This compares with only 4 per cent six years earlier. The data collected by the bicycle counters shows that more than 10 per cent of journeys are already made on two wheels. At the end of 2021, there were 302 km of cycle paths and 325 km of public roads with limited motorised traffic in the city.

In the lead of the most cycle friendly cities it is impossible to find Polish cities. The best known list is the Copenhagenize Index, a ranking of cities with more than 600,000 inhabitants, assessed according to 14 criteria. In the latest one – from 2019 – Copenhagen takes the first place. It is closely followed by Amsterdam, and the top five also includes Utrecht, Antwerp and Strasbourg.

Based on the Copenhagenize Index, CentrumRowerowe.pl prepared the Top 9 cycling cities of Poland in 2021. The winner turned out to be the capital, followed by: Wrocław, Poznań, Lublin and Gdańsk (ex aequo), Białystok, Kraków and Łódź.

How do the Dutch do it?

What is it about Copenhagen or Amsterdam, smaller and larger Danish, Dutch or German cities, that makes their inhabitants so eager to choose a bicycle as a means of transport, regardless of the fact that they have to take their children to school or show up at work in a suit or in heels?

Firstly, infrastructure. Creation of cycle friendly cities was connected with the creation – as the Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl called it – of cities for people. Such, for which people and not cars are the measure, full of life, safe and sustainable. In the Netherlands, pro-cycling changes were triggered in the 1970s by grim statistics on car accident victims. The Dutch took to the streets under the slogan ‘Stop Child Murders’, and the result of these protests was a change in thinking about urban design. Instead of streets for cars, they started to invest in cycle paths. Car traffic started to be restricted (no-entry zones) and calmed down (speed limits, speed bumps). Today, the Netherlands has the densest network of cycle paths in the world – wide, with smooth surfaces, well signposted and separated from the roadway. Added to this are car parks, especially at schools, workplaces or interchanges. Amsterdam recently opened an underwater car park for 7,000 bikes, located at the main railway station. Cyclists often have priority in traffic. If a collision between a bicycle and a car occurs, the car driver is presumed to be at fault.

Secondly, the cycling culture. In the Netherlands there are 1.3 bicycles per inhabitant, and a Dutchman or Dutchwoman cycles an average of 900 km per year. Everyone rides – from royalty to schoolchildren. 36 per cent of the country’s inhabitants consider the bicycle to be their primary means of transport, irrespective of education or income. What needs to be emphasised – the city bike, not the road or mountain bike. Since 1920, the bicycle has been recognised as an official symbol of the country.

Thirdly, education. From a young age, children are given bicycles by their parents, so as soon as they grow up, they learn to ride it themselves. In schools, they are taught the rules of cycling. When they are 12 years old, they can take a traffic certificate test (the equivalent of our bicycle card). It is estimated that 75 per cent of pupils over the age of 12 commute to school by bicycle. During driving courses, future drivers are taught to look out for cyclists. Environmental education is also important, instilling the idea that riding on two wheels reduces the carbon footprint and contributes to cleaner air.

Fourthly, incentives. Commuters can count on a surcharge (EUR 0.19 per kilometre – the route must be agreed with the employer) or a subsidy for the purchase of a bicycle. There is also no obligation to ride with a helmet.

More bikes, better cities

‘Cars are a thing of the past,’ announced Bill De Blasio, mayor of New York City, in 2020. He announced the creation of around 130 km of safe cycle paths by the end of his term. Many cities around the world are moving in this direction, recognising that the bicycle is helping to change them for the better. How is this happening?

Cars take up space – both for roads (which drivers expect to be more and wider) and for car parks. They are one of the main causes of smog and noise in cities. In the European Union, transport accounts for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions (2019 figures), and passenger cars accounted for the largest share of this (60.6 per cent). In order to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 – in line with the European Green Deal – the EU needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent compared to 1990 levels. This is why cars are already being frowned upon in an increasing number of cities, clean transport zones are being created (in Poland, the first will be in Warsaw in 2024) and other restrictions on car traffic (e.g. speed reduction, one-way streets, reduction of parking spaces).

This is not without murmurs of discontent from motorists and entrepreneurs running businesses in the zones affected by the changes, but paradoxically – once the cars are moved out, the towns revive. Because it is pedestrians and cyclists who are more inclined to drop by a shop or a coffee shop along the way. They do not have to look for a parking place, and besides – moving more slowly around the city and choosing different routes it is easier for them to find interesting shops or places and visit them.

Cities that rely on bicycles are also safer for pedestrians and cyclists themselves. And healthier. According to WHO data, 30 per cent of car journeys in Europe are made on a route of less than 3 km. This is an ideal distance for a bike ride, especially as the cyclist is not stuck in traffic, so such a route can be covered at a pace comparable to a car, or even faster. Numerous studies prove that people who commute by bike are less exposed to cardiovascular diseases or cancer.

So what stands in the way – apart from the lack of appropriate cycling routes? Conviction of getting sweaty and dirty, fear of bad weather, the necessity to take a lot of things with you (computer, equipment, food, change of clothes), to take a child to school or kindergarten and also the distance.

Cycling in the city is not a competitive sport, you move at a leisurely pace, stopping at traffic lights, so there is little risk of getting sweaty – moreover, while cycling, the wind effectively cools the body.

In poorer weather, you can indeed get dirty (if you get splashed by a car or drive into a puddle), but seeing what the weather is like outside the window, you can dress appropriately or take things to change into. Many companies have showers, designed specifically with cycling commuters in mind.

It is said that there is no bad weather for cycling – only bad clothing. A special cape is a great protection from rain, and during winter – the best is layered clothing, necessarily including a hat, scarf and gloves.

Can’t carry anything on the bike? There is a huge choice of baskets, panniers or racks on the market. On the more advanced version – a trailer or cargo bike, which are also great for transporting children.

The biggest problem seems to be the distance, especially in Polish conditions (commuting from suburban villages and towns). Here the solution is to combine a bike with a train (in the Netherlands every second train journey starts with a bike). Or even two bikes – one to get to the railway station, the other (it can be a city bike) to travel from the other station to work. In this case, we can also replace the bicycle with public transport.

Dreaming of four wheels? Buy yourself two bikes*

For many years in Polish cities cycling was used for sport or recreation – but not to go to work or school. In the 1990s we switched to cars – today we are among the European leaders in terms of the number of cars per capita. Slow changes in awareness started after Poland’s accession to the European Union and the use of EU funds for the construction of cycling routes. A network of coherent and safe roads is a prerequisite for cyclists to ride around town. Let’s add to this other facilitations for owners of two wheels – contraflow and contra-lanes (in both cases on one-way streets cyclists ride against the traffic), limiting the speed of cars to 30 km/h or even limiting their movement and parking.

When infrastructure appears, so do its users. This can be seen, for example, in Warsaw’s Bora Komorowskiego Street. In 2020, a cycle path was opened on it. Within two years, the volume of cycling traffic there increased by 700 per cent during the morning traffic peak and by 250 per cent during the afternoon traffic peak.

An important indicator is the number of women choosing to cycle. The safer and more comfortable the infrastructure is, the more women there are (the ratio of women to men is also one of the Copenhagenize Index indicators). Data on cyclists by gender is collected, for example, in Warsaw – here men account for 61 per cent of cyclists, women for only 39 per cent.

 

*There was once such an inscription on one of the walls in Poznań

 

Couriers on electric bicycles delivering parcels in the city centre? Read about the GRETA project, implemented by Łukasiewicz – PIT, and about the first transhipment microhub in Poland, which will be built in Poznań.