An Italian city leads the European ranking of cities where cycling is the main means of transport
Over the past few days, the Quality of life in European cities survey, conducted by the European Commission with the contribution of Istat in a selection of European cities – 85 in total – with the aim of increasing knowledge about the perceived quality of life in urban areas, has revealed which European cities in which citizens make greater use of local public transport for their daily journeys.
Several Eastern European cities, including Prague, Bucharest and Warsaw, topped the list. Bad results, on the other hand, for Italian cities, where the lowest percentages were found for use of local public transport. On the contrary, the top 20 cities where the car is the most used vehicle are almost all Italian cities.
But how are things going on the cycling front? There is good news: the European city in which the bicycle is mentioned as the means of transport most often used by inhabitants is Bolzano, where as many as 50 per cent of citizens say they use the bicycle as their main means of getting around on a daily basis. Bolzano is therefore first in the overall European ranking, followed by Groningen and Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Copenhagen (Denmark).
However, apart from a few other cities in the centre-north, in the rest of Italy the use of bicycles still seems to be rather limited. In most Italian cities analysed by the research, the bicycle is mentioned as the most frequently used means of transport in less than 15% of the cases.
Other Italian cities where cycling is the preferred means of transport for a relatively significant number of people are Parma (28.4%), Venice (18.7%), Trento (18.7%), Bologna (18.4%), Brescia (17.9%), Pescara (17.7%) and Milan (16.8%). In Naples, the percentage drops to 9.3%.
In general, at the European level, the lowest levels of bicycle use all refer to Italian cities, including Rome and most southern cities.
Good news, however, regarding walking: compared to other European cities, walking in our cities is indicated more frequently. Rome, on the other hand, is one of the EU cities where this mode of travel is indicated less.
Source: TTS Italia
