Today, on the World Bicycle Day, the European Commission has published a Cycling Counts study assessing the current state of cycling within the European Union.
The study established an EU-wide baseline for cycling infrastructure and proposed a data collection methodology across four dimensions: cycle network, cycle use, safety of cyclists, and cycling-related services such as bike share, cycle parking and cycle logistics. The study identified over 900 000 km of cycling paths and lanes network at EU level – providing a first comparable EU overview of the network accessible to cyclists and forming the baseline for future monitoring.
Cycling levels in Europe show strong variation, and results depend on differing national survey methods, but data shows that almost 24% of EU residents cycle at least once per week. In terms of cycle services, looking at almost 300 EU cities with 150 000 inhabitants, data shows that bike sharing services are present in the vast majority of them, corresponding to a fleet size of about 300 000 bikes. (....)