Abstract
According to the United Nations, cities will represent two-thirds of the world’s population in 2050, which presents some challenges, especially to the transportation sector. To improve the population’s quality of life and the sustainability of cities, mobility must be sustainable, and cycling will play an important role in achieving this. Literature shows that we can promote cycling with better infrastructures, through multimodality, and through behavioral changes. Promoting the use of bicycles through behavior can involve a number of aspects, but in this work, we explore what a digital platform should have in order to promote and increase bicycle usage, as well as to improve cycling conditions in a city. To evaluate what is needed, we conducted an analysis on different types of digital platforms that are available on the market in order to assess the main characteristics and outputs that they provide to cyclists, as well as the type of information that can and should be added to promote the use of bicycles in cities. Moreover, we also carried out a survey in a Portuguese mid-sized “starter cycling city”, which showed, among other data, the relevance and type of information that a digital platform dedicated to cyclists should have in such types of cities.
Highlights
In 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities and by 2030, this will already be around 60% [1]
Regarding urbanization and migration [2] as important city megatrends, it is relevant to point out that cities are rapidly growing in space and time, pressuring the urban transportation sector, as it was responsible for about 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the world and 27.55% in Europe alone in 2014 [3]
For a starter cycling city, we argue that the first level of intervention should be focused on non-regular cyclists, i.e., those who do not use bicycles daily or frequently, inspiring them to become regular users—cycling commuters—since this group is already aware of the majority of Sustpairnoasbilaitnyd20c2o0,n1s2,o2f06c4ycling in this type of city
Summary
In 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities and by 2030, this will already be around 60% [1]. The bicycle plays an important role because in urban travels up to a maximum of 5–8 km, the bicycle is the fastest means of transport [7], does not pollute, improves the user’s health [8], and occupies very little public space for circulation and parking For the city, this represents a benefit of 0.18€ per km cycled (and if the person had traded their car for a bicycle, the benefit would be even higher because each kilometer driven by car incurs an external cost of 0.11€) in comparison to the usage of cars [9] and it can increase by 10 times the range of a bus stop [10]. Bicycles will be necessary to ensure that populations move in a sustainable, smart, efficient, and effective way within city areas
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