Access to high-quality bike lanes is key because it can foster a shift to a near-zero-carbon form of transport and improve the safety and health of residents, particularly those that do not own or cannot use private motorized vehicles. In a recent study of European cities, cyclists had 84% lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per person from all daily travel than non-cyclists.
If 10% of the urban population were to switch from driving to cycling, transportation emissions from cities would be expected to decrease by about 10%. Supporting better infrastructure for cycling is an opportunity for policymakers to address climate change and improve public health, by reducing injuries and potentially increasing ridership.
In 2020, there were approximately 4.4 kilometers (km) of segregated bike lanes per million people in the top 50 emitting cities. This is an increase from 0.075 km/1 million people in 2010. The data is based on bike lanes mapped in OpenStreetMap, so some of this increase may be driven by how active volunteers have been in mapping their cities rather than the true length of bike lanes in those cities.
In order to be on a 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) pathway, this number needs to increase to 2000 km/1 million inhabitants by 2030. Progress will need to accelerate more than tenfold to meet this goal. Of course, building infrastructure will not guarantee that people will use it, but it is a necessary condition — alongside other incentives for mode shift — to allow for better cycling access.
Bike use surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when public transport systems were used much less than usual, and countries and cities have an opportunity to capitalize on that spike in interest in the post-pandemic era. European countries like Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are already world leaders in creating safe, convenient and accessible cycling conditions.
Cities looking to expand cycling infrastructure can also follow the example of Seville, Spain, where the local government expanded cycling infrastructure from 12 km of unconnected cycle paths in 2005 to 120 km of protected bike lanes in 2010. The expansion was coupled with a bike-sharing system, which helped boost the number of daily bike trips fivefold over three years.
Bogotá, Colombia, expanded bicycle infrastructure by an impressive 33% (from 443 km to 590 km) between 2015 and 2021. Bogotá’s 2020-24 Strategic Plan includes the goal to further expand bicycle infrastructure to 830 km by 2024, alongside growing the number of cycle trips by 50%.
Cities like Paris are similarly setting bold goals for cyclability. Its goals include making it possible to bike every street in the city and prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists over cars in the flow of traffic.