CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
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Italian bicycle sales 'surpass those of cars'
"Last year some 1.75 million bicycles were sold, about 2,000 more than the number of new cars registered. President Giorgio Napolitano appealed to Italians to "catch up" with other European countries by making their roads more cycle-friendly."
I would love to see all Italian cities become like Bozen/Bolzano, Ferrari or Modena, but sadly most of them aren't. It is notable that on the same day the 3,000 people in Edinburgh pedalled on parliament, in London 10,000 cycled on city hall, but less well know that 50,000 cyclist joined a protest in Rome. So things are changing there, it is also very telling that the Italian love affair with the car is starting to sour...
I read somewhere that cycling is taking off in Greece too. Basically due to the crisis, many folk can't afford to run cars.
What is interesting is that mindsets seem to be changing too. I suppose some will not go back to their old lifestyle, even if eventually they can afford it.
However, here in "oil rich", wet and windy Scotland, you need a hydraulic jack hammer to prise folk out of their cars it seems.
My brother has cycled in Italy often. His view is that that it is mostly sport cycling in clubs (lots of local small races) rather than commuting, especially in the mountain areas. Maybe that is what is changing?
Yet greece is to spend 100million on a new F1 track.... MAybe a new velodrome instead.
Yet greece is to spend 100million on a new F1 track....
That's the difference between "business interests" and the interests of ordinary folk I suppose.
I'm currently in Tuscany. Quite a lot of bikes but extremely challenging - very very hilly and most towns are at the top of 400 to 600 m hills.
Last town in Italy I was in was Trieste and I remember thinking that if I lived there I'd be unlikely to want to get around by bicycle (although north/south routes would be OK).
However, here in "oil rich", wet and windy Scotland, you need a hydraulic jack hammer to prise folk out of their cars it seems.
The Netherlands is spectacularly wet & windy so that's no excuse.
Bozen/Bolzano is the capital of the richest province in Italy and also has one of the highest rates of cycling (a modal of 32% for bicycles), does that suggest a correlation with lack of money? Of course if you take a trip across to the other side of the Alps to Zurich where the cycle modal share is a mere +20% is no doubt due to the desperate poverty levels among its citizens...
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