Involving sustainable transportation modes, especially cycling into urban transportation systems and increasing its share against car usage is of crucial interest of the European community. As also declared by the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers in Transport on 7th October 2015, cycling as a climate friendly transportation mode has positive impact on several factors of quality of life:
• Environment
Some 40% of Europe's CO2 emissions from road transport and 70% of other pollutants are due to urban traffic. Increasing the modal share of cycling would make a significant contribution to mitigating climate change and decreasing dependency on fossil fuels.
In and around Europe’s many growing urban centres, cycling is an essential tool for congestion relief. Both for the state and for citizens, cycling is the most cost effective transport mode after walking. When production, maintenance, operation and fuel are taken into account, cycling is the most greenhouse gas efficient transport mode of all. Considering that half of all passenger car trips made in most European cities are shorter than five kilometres and that more than half of all motorized cargo trips in EU cities could be shifted to bicycles, there is significant potential to increase cycling’s mode share and to improve quality of life. Also global delivery service companies as TNT or Fed-Ex are already integrating bicycle companies into their delivery chain with success. These companies acknowledged that bicycle delivery in urban areas can be cheaper and almost as fast as motorized delivery modes .
• Health issues
Cycling benefits society. Children who cycle to school concentrate better than those who are dropped off. Employees who cycle to work claim fewer paid sick days. The health benefits of switching from car commuting to bicycle commuting amply outweigh the safety risks. Cycling also becomes safer the more cyclists there are on the road: the ‘Safety in Numbers’ principle. According to conservative estimates by the World Health Organisation, if every adult in the EU walked or cycled for an additional 15 minutes a day, more than 100 000 premature deaths linked to insufficient physical activity could be avoided annually. Through congestion easing, emissions and noise reduction, public health and infrastructure cost savings, cycling benefits even those who don’t practice it.
• Innovation and economy.
Cycling is a European success story. Bicycle innovation will boost jobs and growth and support EU industry through new technology and services.
21 million bicycles were sold in the EU in 2014, outnumbering newly registered passenger cars by more than eight million. Public bike-share systems have been implemented in more than 800 cities on four continents. EU based manufacturers of electric power assisted cycles (EPAC) technology lead the way in e-mobility, serving a rapidly growing global market of currently 35 million units a year. Cycling related manufacturing and services currently employ 650’000 people in the EU. Doubling the current mode share of cycling would raise that number to over one million.
