In today’s world travel time is the central parameter for the type of transport we deal with. Thats why BICYCLE is an effective tool which give us livelihood city with space diversity and development. Bicycle riding not only boost to less pollution, long life but also creates carbon free air. Till the recent past year 2015, top most five countries which had developed their cities for cycling includes Copenhagen of Denmark, Amsterdam of Netherlands, Utrecht of Netherland, Strasbourg of France, Eindhoven of Netherland.
If we can see briefly top five bicyclist cities of respective countries, the percentage of the cycling accounts for 17% of all trips in Denmark and 4% of the traffic in kilometres. A Cycling accounts for 20 % of all commuter trips. Since 85 % of all bike trips are under 5 km. 70% of all trips by cycle are less than 3 km. Only 2% of all trips by bicycle are longer than 15 km. On average, Danes cycle 1,5 km a day. Danish men and women almost bike the same. But women cycle a bit more often while the men cycle slightly longer than women. Nine out of ten Danes own a bicycle. Almost 44 % of all children aged 10-16years are cycle to school. Since 2009, Denmark has invested at least € 373 million in cycle projects. For every km cycled instead of driven in a car, the state of Denmark saves 0,8 €. With 5.7 million Danes cycling 1.5 km a day, that’s 6,840.000 € per day- and that’s a conservative estimate.1 km of Danish highway costs up to 100 times more than 1 km of the Danish bicycle highway. The cyclists of Copenhagen cycle 1,240,000 km every day.56% of Copenhageners who work or study in the city, commute by bicycle every day. Copenhagen has a total of 454 km cycle lanes.
Another city which is well-known for cycling around the world is Amsterdam. Amsterdam is largest city in The Netherlands. Amsterdam city has a 7km radius and the region is 40km by 40km.A city has population of 800,000 and 2,300,000 across the region. There are 800,000 bicycle. The average resident of Amsterdam cycles 2.3km per day. Amsterdam cycling volumes have increased by 40% in the past 15 years, while public transport mode share has dropped. There are 250,000 unguarded and 13,00 guarded bike parking bays and 10,000 parking bays are in the vicinity of the central train station including a floating parking barge. Amsterdam citys guarded parking bays will be expanded to 38,000 by 2020 and 80,000 in the long term. There are 250,000 unguarded and 13,00 guarded bike parking bays. In Amsterdam city, bicycle parking is free for 1 day, 0.5 Euro for 2-3 days and 42 Euro for 4 days. Within the Amsterdam city underground bicycle parking are constructing which cost between 3,000 and 8,000 Euro per bay and building a 3.3b Euro subway. A city has 30km/h speed limits for motorised traffic makes cycling trips faster by comparison. If we see Amsterdam city cycling mode share still growing with mode share being 53% for 3km trips and 2% for 6km trips. Since inner city cycling mode share is 62. In order to train the bicyclist, the bicycle education for children and parents has been outsourced to one company at a cost of 1m Euro per year with written and practical exams during school hours.
In The Netherlands, Utrecht is Fourth largest city. A city population of 322,000 and 650,000 across the region. It has the largest university in The Netherlands. A city have around 22,000 bike parking stands in the vicinity of the rail station and historical centre and thirteen guarded bike parking facilities. If we go into details of cycle infrastructure development in Utrecht, a city now constructing 12,000 cycle parking bays at/around the central train station, which is due for completion in 2016. The operations were run through a micro simulation model to ensure maximum efficiency is achieved during peak periods. The cycle parking provided at train stations and bus stops. In Utrecht, cycle paths building on both sides of major roads and trying to plan new cycling routes to spread the peak demand. A city is trying to reduce bicycle parking in public spaces to improve walking spaces. The concern authorities of Utrecht, improving traffic signals to reduce cyclist delays. In Utrecht, new areas have combined bike/pedestrian paths with 3.5m for cyclists, 1.2m for pedestrians and separation is via a painted white line plus red asphalt for the cycle portion and black for pedestrians.The Utrecht city authorities and Netherlands government had focused for 2010 to 2015 – Upgrading of the 5 busiest bicycle routes, building missing links(including structures), more and better bicycle parking, expansion of the public bicycle scheme (at rail stations) and bicycling promotion.
Eindhoven is the fifth largest city in The Netherlands. A city has population of 220,000.In Eindhoven there are round 300,000 bicycle,400km of bicycle paths and 6,900 free bicycle parking bays. In the city, the car parking bays are being removed for bike parking (1 car bay equals 12 bike bays).Eindhoven residents have a smart card for bike parking (lock and leave). From 2010 to 2014,Eindhoven city authorities had completed 101 cycling projects at a value of 30m Euros(AUD$43m).A Eindhoven citys cycling promotion has a budget of 320,000 Euro (AUD$450,000) per year, with key targets being students, commuters, large employers and visitors. This has resulted in a 10% increase in cycling.
In the country like France creation of the Tour de France is major national sportive bicycle event which gathers 12 million people of all ages around the roads. Since more than 3.5 billion watch it on TV across 190 countries. In France 14,000 km of urban streets are cyclist-friendly. There are 300,000 cycle trips every day in Paris and in its 29 surrounding cities. France 35 cities have bike-sharing systems(VLS) and bike-station and 2%of the regional trains users come to the station by bicycle. The amount of money spent by a cycling tourist per day is 75 euro in France. The cycle tourism contributes largely to the local economy, especially in the restaurant industry and accommodation. More than half daily are travels in France are shorter than 3 km on bicycle. There are more than 10,000km of greenways and cycling infrastructures today, and goal targeted 20,700 km in 2020. The State, local authorities and tourism businesses of France promote together the national scheme for cycle ways and greenways. The France cycle tourism approach aims to attract new users in order that France can become the first cycle tourism destination in Europe. In such country of France Strasbourg ranked top most five cities around the world. Strasbourg is the first city in France when it comes to cycling, with a modal share of 9% across the Metropolitan Area and 15% in the city centre. The Eurométropole de Strasbourg consists of 28 municipalities with the city of Strasbourg making up 60% of the population and 25% of its surface area. Strasbourg is the capital city of the Alsace region and seat of the European Parliament. Strong traffic regulatory measures have been implemented to improve air quality. The UNESCO World Heritage city centre is mostly car-free. Strasbourg is Frances leading cycling city, but the vast majority of cyclists are found in the city centre. In Strasbourg city there are 500km of cycle routes have been created. A city bicycle station offers direct train-to-bike access and reversely. Within city dedicated parking for bicycles under the Central Station, with 850 places available upon subscription. There are bicycle sharing system Vél’hop and a website that gathers information about stolen or found bikes.
Cycling is the ideal means of moving no farther than 3 or 5 km away, and may thus be used to access public transport, particularly in sparse areas or during off-peak hours. Boarding bicycles in public transport vehicles is an interesting solution.Unfortunately in India Bicycle is not consider as vehicle. There are no massive steps still taken to develop dedicated infrastructure for bicycle in India. Around world million dollar budgets are spent on bicycle infrastructure. The Initiatives for Cycling India” has to boost up. Since we have density of population, transportation and pollution of air. The India government must have consider cycling infrastructure on priority in order to make Copenhagen CO2 neutral by 2025.
Copyrights ©️
OBSERVERTIMES GLOBAL NEWSNETWORK PRIVATE LIMITED reserves the rights to all content contained within its official website:www.observertimes.in / Online Magazine/Publications and Official Facebook Page/Social Media Accounts