Politique Internationale — Is your goal for bicycles to dislodge cars in city centres?
Kevin Mayne — Our main objective is to encourage as many people as possible everywhere to use their bicycles. We think we can persuade 50 million extra adults to pedal their bikes on a regular basis. Although we don’t have a recent study on the number of regular cyclists in Europe, in 2013 it was estimated at 130 million. Given the recorded growth since then, our goal now is to cross the threshold of 200 million regular users in Europe. Our second priority is to encourage greater diversity in the way we use bikes. They can be used not just for sport and leisure, but also for doing the shopping and the daily commute between home and work. In addition, we’re keen to promote greater gender equity in bicycle usage. In countries where the cycling infrastructure is good, at least half of bike users are women (and sometimes even more), while in countries with few facilities, 75% of cyclists are men. We’re also targeting greater geographical diversity: at present there are vast differences between the most advanced nations (such as Denmark or the Netherlands) and countries in southern and eastern Europe, which are being left behind by the bunch. France is part of the group of intermediate countries: while the cycle touring industry is strong, it has never been very advanced in terms of day-to-day cycling. At the same time, France is one of the countries making the fastest progress, especially since the Covid crisis, which prompted many town councils to step up work on their infrastructure facilities. But there is still a lot left to do. France is a large market, with potentially one million people who could use a bike on a regular basis.
P. I. — As well as its positive health effects and personal well-being, can cycling really be a way of tackling global warming, fulfilling the European goals of the Green Deal or reducing our reliance on Russian gas?
K. M. — Cycling has a whole host of benefits: it limits carbon emissions, cuts congestion in cities and reduces reliance on oil. And with the advent of electric bikes, people can now make much longer journeys. Our estimates, which were made at the request of the European Commission, showed that cycling could save 12% of the Russian oil used on public transport. Other research also suggests that 50% of urban deliveries could eventually be made by cargo bikes. Bicycles have a great advantage compared to other alternatives: they provide an immediate solution, whereas it will take years before we can convert our means of transport to hydrogen or supply Europeans with millions of electric vehicles. The Covid pandemic has proven that the switch to cycling can be made very quickly. Its strength is that it’s the fastest way to effect change. And this means we’re asking to be recognised by the European Union as a top-tier strategic industry. We are an economic sector in our own right and a leader in the industrial transition with green supply chains, a range of digital services, and so forth. Our industry already boasts 600,000 jobs in Europe – which is more than coal or steel – and we think it’s possible to create an additional 400,000 jobs.
P. I. — With major industrial companies driving growth in the sector, does Europe have competitive advantages that it can exploit?
K. M. — Our sector draws on champions of industry, including the world’s leading manufacturers. The Dutch firm Pon.Bike – a subsidiary of the Dutch transport conglomerate Pon – owns bike brands such as Gazelle and Cervélo, and it has grown into the world’s biggest bicycle manufacturer. The French company Decathlon should also be included: it isn’t just a distributor but also manufactures its own bikes. And then there’s Accell, another bicycle giant with brands such as Lapierre, Haibike, Ghost and so forth. As well as making bikes, Europe is very advanced in terms of the services it offers. Shared bikes – such as Velib in Paris or Santander in London – is a concept that began in Europe and that has now spread all over the world. The Danish company Donkey Republic has developed a 24/7 system for self-service rentals in 50 cities in Europe. An app on your smartphone is all it takes to locate a bike nearby and then unlock it. It can be hired for short trips or for a few days. When it comes to bike paths, again Europe has infrastructure companies that are at the cutting-edge of innovation, developing non-slip surfaces; luminous strips that demarcate bike paths on the ground; lighting bike paths with solar street lamps to reduce energy consumption, and so on. This is a very promising area with a wide range of innovations where Europe is the leader. We organise a major international conference every year – Velo-City – with delegates from around the world coming to see and learn what we are doing in Europe. It’s an opportunity for European companies to export their know-how abroad. The Dutch and Danes already have “cycling ambassadors” who export their knowledge in the fields of engineering, design and urban planning.
P. I. — What obstacles remain to making cycling more attractive?
K. M. — The number-one barrier is still the lack of safe, protected, uninterrupted bike paths that can be used for end-to-end journeys. Separate bike lanes cut accidents and encourage people to use their bikes. If someone wants to go by bike with their children, but has to take a dangerous stretch of road, they will give up – even if the rest of the route has been converted into a bike path and made more attractive. The infrastructure has to be uninterrupted – that’s really essential: cyclists must be able to do their journey door-to-door without having to go back onto the road or use the pavement. When it comes to equipment, the risk of punctures has virtually been eliminated thanks to advances in tyre quality. Braking can in all likelihood still be improved, and steering can be made simpler and easier. But new types of bike have been created in recent years that are opening up new experiences. Mountain biking has revolutionised races in rural areas, and it’s a very healthy trend that is growing fast. Electric bikes are attracting an entirely new clientele: they require less physical effort and can be adapted to all members of society, including the oldest. My own father, who is 85, is still riding his bike every day thanks to electric bicycles. Sales of cargo bikes are currently rising by 60% a year, and could grow by 500% over the next five or six years.
P. I. — Does it follow that the priority issue is to invest more money in building bike paths?
K. M. — It’s a question of investment, sure, but above all it’s about ambition. You can’t just put a coat of paint on the ground to create a bike path. If you do, it soon becomes saturated and too narrow – and, it follows, not fit for purpose. The most ambitious cities devote entire streets to bikes. Brussels, for instance, has the largest pedestrian zone in Europe, which bikes are allowed to use but where cars are banned. It’s not about creating small stretches of bike path, but about thinking on a large scale, designing and planning comprehensive traffic schemes that are much more ambitious. What’s more, we shouldn’t forget that spaces need to be set aside for parking bicycles and sheltering them. Unfortunately, these two elements are still missing too often. And the result is that sometimes there is chaos in the streets, with many cyclists falling victim to theft, which can end up having a deterrent effect. Employers are under growing pressure to provide bike parking for their employees. And, the good news, the European Union has just adopted a new directive on energy- efficient buildings, which now have to have a certain number of spaces for parking bikes, which is genuine progress. For people who don’t have the means to buy a bike, or don’t have a place to park one, shared bicycles are a very attractive alternative. In this case, it is essential that local councils implement the service in all neighbourhoods, including the least profitable, so that it covers the entire area and isn’t confined just to city centres or middle-class neighbourhoods.
P. I. — With e-bikes taking off, can solar technology be used to make recharging batteries easier and boost battery life?
K. M. — In towns battery life isn’t really a problem, because you can charge at home or at work using a simple household socket. That’s the beauty of bikes compared to electric cars. On the other hand, it can be an issue for bike tourism, where the trips are longer and people would like to be able to recharge their batteries at lunchtime. Germany, for instance, has charging points on some long-distance bike paths along its rivers. In our sector, we also need energy for powering connected apps, smartphones and multi-modal trip planning. There are lots of innovations still in the pipeline given the growing pressure on the raw materials that are used to make batteries. We will have to find other forms of technology, improve energy efficiency, recycle and so on.
P. I. — What technological innovations could improve traffic flow and make it easier for cyclists to get around?
K. M. — We are working on the BITS “Bicycles and ITS” (Intelligent Transport Systems) project as part of a consortium of cities and regions. We are carrying out innovative pilot projects on, for example, fine-tuning traffic lights: when cyclists have to stop, it puts them at a great disadvantage since they have to get off the saddle, put their feet on the ground, and expend a lot of energy starting off again. The town of Aarhus in Denmark is trialling a scheme for detecting cyclists using RFID tags. When the tag (positioned on the front wheel of a bike) is detected by the reader installed in advance of the traffic lights, they turn green, giving cyclists priority. The idea is to make bikes more competitive with cars not only in economic terms but also in terms of the time they save. These smart lights have already been set up in Copenhagen, which has also developed a messaging system for warning cyclists that there is congestion ahead and that they should take another route. These digital services, which were still emerging three or four years ago, are expanding for the general public with a number of apps. They can encourage people to make multi-modal trips – such as including bikes on journeys by public transport; providing better route planners; offering apps for reporting road defects; switching traffic lights to green; or identifying attractions along a route.
P. I. — Which cities are the best examples, and what is their recipe for success?
K. M. — The Netherlands is still the undisputed champion. Zwolle has been recognised as the world’s most bike-friendly city, with 60% of daily journeys made by bicycle. Even larger cities, such as Utrecht and Groningen, have a 50% rate for journeys by bike. What’s their secret? Bike paths, of course! But also, the fact that only cyclists and pedestrians can cross the city centre, with motorised vehicles banned. Car traffic has been deliberately slowed down and restricted to outside cities so that the bicycle can take its place as the fastest, most efficient means of transport. The secret isn’t just to adopt a pro- cycling policy: it’s to really think about a comprehensive strategy for managing traffic. In terms of major cities, the transition that is underway in Paris is extremely impressive. In Spain, the percentage of cyclists in Seville has risen from 0.5% to 6% in just four years. Change can come about very quickly.
P. I. — Some cyclists go through red lights and are reckless. How can we avoid accidents?
K. M. — This lack of respect isn’t unique to cycling. We see the same thing in all forms of transport: people push to get on the underground, and motorists break the speed limit and also run lights. Of course, we deplore it, but it does prove one thing: transport is extremely frustrating. In reality, we have to try to understand why people behave the way they do, why they adopt behaviours that put themselves and others in danger. If cars drive more quickly than expected, we need to take action to slow them down. If cyclists go through areas where there aren’t any lights, let’s find a way to light them. But I don’t see why cyclists should be treated as a distinct group.
P. I. — What is missing for manufacturers to go further?
K. M. — Their commitment is deep and they’re investing and breaking new ground to design new products, new types of infrastructure and new services. But we don’t control the public space, which means we need a real commitment from cities and governments to support us. We’re also calling for a level playing field with the car industry, for instance. The European Union and the governments in different countries pay billions of euros to support jobs or research in the car industry. Our sector doesn’t receive comparable benefits even though we are a strategic industry with the potential to create 200,000 jobs. There is a growing awareness, and discussions are much more encouraging now than they were even a year or two ago. So, we’re waiting optimistically for the European Union to recognise our sector as a top-tier strategic industry.