At the height of COVID-19, both in the U.S. and around the world, people picked up cycling. Some got on bikes for the first time, or for the first time in many years. Others added miles and hours to their already favorite hobby. So many people were riding that we saw bike shortages and long wait times on parts and service.
And when bikes and parts were back in shops, people continued to buy. But the question is, will it stick?
It turns out that it has a lot to do with how city leaders have reacted to a surge in ridership. Implementing infrastructure to make cycling safer is a major component in whether or not people will continue to ride. Already, cities that have invested are seeing happier, healthier communities.
While COVID-19 hasn’t vanished (ahem, Giro), people are returning to a new sense of normalcy. So it makes sense to take a look at ridership numbers and infrastructure projects that were hatched when the pandemic was at its worst.
A recent AP article summarized an ongoing study looking at 14 cities around the world that have invested in permanent cycling infrastructure. The study chose large cities that had “strongly promoted cycling even prior to COVID-19.” The study states that from those cities they “focused on choosing cities that had implemented especially innovative and successful pro-cycling responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, as identified by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF), the League of American Bicyclists (LAB).”
Among the cities looked at were, Austin, Texas, Washington D.C., Montreal, London, Paris, and Bogota. The findings reflect 2019-2021, and found that measures like restricting cars from certain areas in the name of responsible social gathering, really were only made possible due to the COVID-19 crisis.
With the success of many of these measures, city leaders have been able to support other pro-cycling moves, such as further restrictions on motor vehicles, reduced speed limits, excluding traffic from residential neighborhoods, prohibiting car access to some streets, and re-allocating roadway space to bicycles.
Cycling cities are growing
London more than doubled its protected bike lanes when the virus took hold, the AP reports. This brought the total to 260 km (160 miles) in a year. One year! Car restrictions have also contributed to a safer and far less congested capital. The city truly transformed its urban center, which has already resulted in a huge increase in walking and cycling.
The benefits, of course, are far-reaching. The AP reports that environmental concerns have been a motivation for many to ditch cars for bikes, “a choice that researchers say has clear benefits in reducing the carbon emissions that drive global warming and in curbing pollution broadly.”
In Montreal, for example, pro-bike mayor, Valérie Plante, easily won reelection in 2021 on a platform of green initiatives, the AP reports. And a major expansion of a new express bikeway network, Réseau Express Vélo or REV, is underway. This network would double the city’s cycling network in four years.
The research and the evidence are there. Cycling cities are growing. We look forward to further advances in how cities around the world are using what happened during the pandemic as a launching point to encourage more people to ride bikes safely.
Micah Ling is a freelance writer who lives in the mountains of Colorado. She splits her free time between mountain biking and trail running.
