Moving cycling forward: A coordinated approach to cycling for local and regional authorities in the EU

Please note: Each In-Depth Analysis is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.This analysis presents an overview of the current state of cycling mobility in the European Union and of the benefits stemming from cycling as a means of transport. It examines the challenges linked to making cycling a regular transport mode and looks at what is being done across the EU to address the problems identified.

After discussing recent EU developments, the analysis concludes that cycling potential could be maximised by coordinated action at all levels of local government administration.

Building on the author's EPRS briefing Cycling mobility in the EU of May 2015, this analysis was produced at the request of the Committee of the Regions of the EU. A genuine shift towards greater cycling mobility can be achieved through cycling policies that are coordinated across all levels of administration. For reasons of subsidiarity, the main responsibility for delivering cycling policy is at national and local level.

However, the EU could help strengthen these efforts by means of a strategic document which covers all the areas that impact on cycling in one text. In combination with appropriate funding, this could send a strong signal to all levels of administration that cycling is taken seriously as a means of transport which reduces urban congestion and pollution, while making people healthier.

Author: Marketa Pape

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Publications available via the EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/directorate-general-for-internal-policies-of-the-union-cbf.cKABstF7wAAAEjwYYY4e5K/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service_ In-Depth Analysis, May 2016: Moving cycling forward: A coordinated approach to cycling for local and regional authorities in the EU http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/582033/EPRS_IDA(2016)582033_EN.pdf

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