Sub-plenary Sessions

Bicycle Use Determinants

Tim Asperges, Luc Vanmaele and Ursula Lehner-Lierz, Langzaam Verkeer, Belgium Bypad: A Benchmarking Instrument For Local Bicycle Policy? BYPAD’s aim is to develop a bicycle policy audit instrument that enables cities to evaluate the quality of their present bicycle policy and that advises the cities in which fields they have to improve their future cycling policy.

Boudewijn Bach and Norman Pressman, TU Delft, The Netherlands Urban Design As An Helping Hand To Promote Bike-use; Urban Pattern Based Design Steps Over thirty years ago,in his treatise The Heart of Our Cities,architect-planner Victor Gruen warned us to adopt a "sensible pattern f behavior toward the automotive population"in order to minimize the detrimental ramifications of automobile dependence (1). These include but are not limited to: urban landscapes littered with expressways,urban sprawl perpetually fed by uncontrollable congestion, deterioration in the quality of the built environment, and the consumption of and reckless disregard for the natural environment. Gruen's visions,which were not entirely unsubstantiated, are a total reality. In fact, these problems represent an essential element of the role, the bicycle can play for a contemporary city. The intent f this probe is to awaken an interest in and affection for town living by enhancing those factors which make the central areas of cities unique by it's 'paths','places'an 'bike routes'. These form the basis of a richly textured and symbolically meaningful urban existence. This is needed more than anything else at the present time, along with decisions about where best to direct political decisions and public investment. The ubiquity of the automobile has,in fact ,made our lives less independent and more dangerous in other ways: Hillman (2) states that: "The lives of pedestrians,especially children and old people, are put at risk by the fact that the 'pavement network'for them is interrupted at every road intersection". The same statement can be made for bicycles.

Frank Borgman and Otto van Boggelen, Fietsersbond, The Netherlands Benchmarking By The Dutch Cyclists' Union: The Cycle Balance In the summer of 1999 a long-term benchmarking project started at the Dutch Cyclists’ Union. This project is funded by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. The project will run for at least three years. Primary objective of the project is to stimulate local authorities to adopt a (still) better cycling policy. The specially formed Benchmarking Team uses benchmarking techniques as a means to achieve this. The secondary objective of the project is to enhance the position and strength of the local Cyclists’ Union branches.

Ton Daggers, International Bicycle Consultancy, The Netherlands The Appliance Of Dutch Cycle Experiences In Colombia In The Process Of Developing A Bicycle Infrastructure In Santa Fé De Bogotá This paper tries to give some insight in process of introducing elements of a highly developed bicycle culture in a society where the bicycle is mostly seen as a recreational means of transport. Considering the fact that the Netherlands have a long bicycle tradition it is logical to presume that there is a great variety of good and bad practises on how to design bicycle infrastructure. In the Bogota case making traffic designs was not the problem as well the lack of specific tools for developing an adequate high quality cycle infrastructure. Essential for efficient interchange of demand for and the offered expertise is to make a goodsworking division between local and foreign expertise. Strength of local engineers is theirsknowledge of local habits, institutions involved and general criteria for traffic designs and studies.sAlso where to obtain necessary data is within their reach. To make foreign expertise input mostsefficient it is recommendable to put more emphasis on training and expertise building than on onlysthe final products. However more intensive and costly on the short term it makes the input ofsexpertise from abroad on the long term less. This ensures more continuity and durability for ansautonomous process of integrating bicycle promotion programs. Experiences and high qualitysexpertise of cycle expertise from countries as the Netherlands should be exploited to stimulate localsvisions and possibilities on cycling by handing over the tools to secure this vision by means ofstraining, coaching and capacity building programs.

Jens Erik Larsen, De Frie Fugle, Denmark Strategies For Knowledge Transfer Between Experienced Countries And Countries Without Bicycle Infrastructure, Examples From Danish Cooperation With Baltic Countries And From The Eurovelo Project In order to help develloping cycling in Easteurope as an environmentally friendly form of urban and recreational transport, two seminars has been arranged in Lithuania and Estonia. The aim of the seminars is to highlight experiences with cycling from Denmark and the Baltic Countries and to create contacts between the countries in order to facilitate the promotion of cycling and bicycle safety. The seminars were directed toward a broad group, e.g. politicians, civil servants,planners, NGO’s and businessmen working in the field of transport, environment, tourism and bicycle rent and sale. Actually the seminars did get a high political awareness, many participants and high awareness also from the press media. The seminar in Estonia took place in September 99 and was planned by Idévœrkstedet De Frie Fugle and The Danish Cyclist Federation,supported by the Estonian Ministry of Environment and financed by Danish Environmental Protection Agency. Experiences with knowledge tranfer from west to east Europe have also been important within the EuroVelo project. The European cycle route network project have indead inspired many countries in eastern Europe to develop cycle routes,and the EuroVelo map itself is managing devellopment of national routes in these countries.

Hugh McClintock and Phil Philippou, University of Nottingham; DETR, UK Improving Professional Training For Bicycle Planning In The UK Following the launch of the UK National Cycling Strategy in 1996 one of the priorities identified for more detailed follow-up work was the area of professional training, to ensure an adequate supply of properly trained personnel promoting cycling. In 1997 therefore a special working party was set up,under the auspices of the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR) but with several outside representatives, to focus on this issue and the closely related issues of improving professional training for those involved in promoting walking, with the anticipated early launch of the DETR’s walking policy statement: ‘Encouraging Walking: Advice to Local Authorities’. The paper describes the range of issues considered by this Working Party including the provision of training and up to date professional guidance and research, for people with different disciplinary and professional backgrounds and with differing levels of training and experience. The paper particularly discusses the results of a survey specially commissioned in 1999 by the working party from Oscar Faber Consultants to obtain a clearer picture of the requirements for improved professional training and guidance. These findings and recommendations are related to the wider context of the major changes in UK Transport Policy following the publication of the 1998 Integrated Transport White Paper, the changes in funding and the introduction of Local Transport Plans.

Roelof Wittink, Tilman Bracher, Hugh McClintock, Marie Caroline Coppieters and Danijel Rebolj, I-ce, The Netherlands; IVU, Germany; University of Nottingham, UK; ECF, Belgium; University of Maribor, Slovenia Veloinfo, European Network For Cycling Expertise A proposal for a European Network for Cycling Expertise, VELOINFO,has been submitted to the European Community. The consortium that has developed this proposal is co-ordinated by I-ce Interface for Cycling Expertise in the Netherlands. The partners of the consortium are ECF European Cyclists’ Federation, IVU Berlin, University of Nottingham, University of Maribor and UCI, Union Cycliste Internationale. VELOINFO will be presented to the European Community for subsidy as an accompanying measure for European policies.