CYCLING IN BRNO
Cycling has been an important mode of transport in developed countries for some time now. In many cases, it is even considered to be an indispensable part of modal share and without it, traffic in cities would collapse long ago.
Modal share of cycling in selected European cities.
In Brno, however, using a bike for transport is still not very popular. Bicycle is currently chosen by only 1% of the city's population as a means of daily transport (to work, to school, to services).
On average, European cities achieve a 10% bike modal share pretty easily and the most successful are even able to get to 40%.
Three factors - climate, terrain, and infrastructure - have a major impact on the popularity of cycling. Which of these are responsible for the low figures in Brno?
Climate
With an average annual temperature of around 10 ° C and a location in a temperate climate zone, Brno has very similar climatic conditions to most of Europe, North America and parts of Asia. The climate in Brno is stable and with the exception of gradual warming due to climate change, extreme temperature differences don't exist.
Lužánky park in autumn.
Most of the world's cities with a high modal share of cycling, such as Copenhagen, Berlin or Amsterdam, are located in the same climate zone as Brno. Several other cities with worse climatic conditions, such as Seville in Spain or Umeå in northern Sweden, are also able to achieve a higher modal share of cyclists. Thus, we can safely state say that the climate is not a factor influencing such low modal share in Brno.
Terrain
The question of terrain and elevation is very important, as the uphill ride is much less pleasant and can deter many potential cyclists. Most cities with highly developed cycling are flat or slightly hilly.
How hilly is Brno?
Infrastructure
Infrastructure, along with the terrain, plays a very important role in the popularity of bicycle transportation. Is infrastructure the one factor that explains such low modal share for bikes in Brno? Do we have a sufficient and high-quality network of segregated cycle paths and safe cycleways?
The total length of cycling infrastructure in Brno is 136 km. At first, this figure seems impressive however to understand the whole picture, it is necessary to look at it in more detail. Indeed, the individual measures are of very diverse quality and extent.
Future of cycling in Brno
The city of Brno is well aware of the importance and benefits of cycling and has therefore committed to supporting it in its strategic documents. For example, in the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, the city has set itself the goal of increasing cycling modal share to 6% by 2030 and 12% by 2050. In addition, our city has pledged to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030 when compared to 1990 in the Covenant of Mayors as a part of fighting climate change.
Sociological surveys, regularly done by the city, prove the big dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Brno with the conditions for cyclists. In addition, people indicate more than 30% willingness to use the bicycle for transport around the city, provided that conditions for cycling improve.
The private and academic sectors are also addressing the city with requests to improve conditions for cyclists.
Why, then, is the state of cycling infrastructure at such a low level, especially in a situation when the capacity of the streets is no longer sufficient to absorb the car traffic?
Only in the last 6 years alone, the number of motor vehicles in Brno has risen by almost 40,000(left axis, blue bars), and traffic intensities on roads have increased by almost 20% compared to 1990(right axis, line).
To some extent, too strict national laws and regulations are responsible for the situation. However, the financial and personnel allocation of resources plays a crucial role in this issue.
There is only one officer responsible for cycling for the whole city. In comparison - the city of Oslo with 600 000 inhabitants has 12 full-time employees responsible for cycling, 4 work in Tallinn with 430 000 inhabitants, 6 in Bern with 130 000 inhabitants and 4 in Bordeaux with 250 000 inhabitants.
Lack of staff is also linked to the problem of bad project management. Lack of powers, clear responsibilities, and staff create problems with construction planning and coordination. Situation, when street is renovated without the proper bike infrastructure, happens too very often.
"If you want to create an efficient city and get rid of traffic problems, cycling infrastructure is the best solution."
Mikael Colville-Andersen, CEO of Copenhagenize Design
As far as financial aspects are concerned, Brno spends relatively low amounts on the development of cycling infrastructure, despite the fact that investments in this area are much less expensive than conventional ones.
Total expenditures(EUR) of Brno City Municipality to cycling infrastructure in the last few years (investment + maintenance). * Data for the first half of the year.
In the 30 years since 1990, 12 million euros has been invested in cycling infrastructure. 80% of all expenditures went to the construction of infrastructure for recreational cycling. Thus, each year is invested on average only around 100 000 euros to the cycling infrastructure for transport. These expenditures represent only 0.02% of the city budget or 0.06% of the budget for transport, respectively. Therefore, new segregated cycle paths are not being built and the allocation of funds is sufficient only to maintain the current network of paths and measures. Although the city has committed to an increase in cycling infrastructure funds to 400 000 euros per year, this funding is very unlikely to be reached in 2019. The comparison with other cities shows that even this increased amount may not be sufficient to significantly improve the quality of cycling infrastructure.
"The extent and quality of cycling infrastructure in Brno are at a very low level. The city is aware of this problem and is working with the state administration and other stakeholders to find a way to change this situation."
Marek Fišer, Brno councillior
Average annual expenditures to cycling infrastructure in selected European cities since 2016 (left axis) and per capita figures (right axis). The low allocation of funds in Brno stands in stark contrast with the city of Trnava that invests three times more into cycling than Brno despite the fact that it is 6x smaller.
Comparison of yearly cycling expenditures over the last 5 years(right axis) and the total length of cycle paths(left axis) in selected cities of the Czech Republic. Brno lags behind other Czech cities in both parameters. * expenditure for the city of Olomouc was not available.
The main reason for the lack of high-quality cycling infrastructure is the long-term low prioritization by the city management and the resulting insufficient financial and personal allocation of resources. This manifests also on the newly reconstructed streets that create the backbone for main traffic flows, such as Milada Horáková, Údolní, Cejl, Minská or Křenová. Although these streets are in the primary cycling network according to the Cycling Master Plan, there is no cycling infrastructure even after the reconstruction.
Milada Horáková street after reconstruction. This major street is classified as an important bike path and forms the backbone of the primary cycle network system. The planned reconstruction was to create conditions for safe passage of cyclists, but instead created parking spaces on the pavement.
Many cities in Europe have faced similar obstacles when developing the cycling infrastructure in the recent past. In 2006, the modal share of cycling in Vienna was still at 1% and now stands at 7%, with a target to reach 13% by 2025. The city of Seville managed to build 80 km of segregated cycle paths in just 4 years and increase the share of cycling from 0.2% to 7%.
We can see that many cities have gone through similar problems and that is why we are not facing unsolvable obstacles. However, the recipe for success in these cities has always been the political will and vision, which resulted in the specific measures and actions. Therefore, without a fundamental change in this direction, cycling in Brno will hardly become an equal mode of transport.
"As soon as the building work was finished, the cyclists just came"
José Garcia Cebrián, Seville’s head of urban planning
Sources
Authors would like to thank all those participating in the story map and fellow cities for kindly responding to our data requests.
