Spicycles in Munich

Meeting in progress

The Spicycles Team met at June 11, 2007 at the occasion of the 2007 Velo-City conference
in Munich to hold its Mid Term Seminar.

In this Newsletter Spicycles reports the results of the Mid Term Seminar as well as the
progress the team made on:
ƒ Bike-sharing
ƒ Communication and Awareness Raising
ƒ Planning for Cycling
ƒ Building Local Partnerships
ƒ The Benchmarking

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SPICYCLES Mid-term seminar, Munich 11 June 2007
The Mid Term seminar was opened by two host speakers.
Bernd Decker of the ‘Executive Agency for competitiveness and innovation’
Hans van Vliet, Shimano’s Corporate Communication Officer

Bernd Decker spoke on what is new in the IEE program, which is the Community’s
instrument to overcome the non-technological barriers to energy efficiency and greater
use of new and renewable energy sources in Europe.

Top: The new executive agency’s logo

Left: Bernd Decker

He outlined that in spring 2006 the European Council called for new European energy
policy: Integrated energy and climate change package based on the energy efficiency
Action Plan. The targets were supported by Member States at the Spring 2007 European
Council

He detailed the renewed policy

‘Competitiveness and Innovation Programme
(CIP):
ƒ The IEE II programme runs from
2007-13
ƒ Annual work programmes are
issued each year to define specific
priorities and actions
This year: applications for funding are
submitted following the 2007 work
programme and call for proposals

2
Hans van Vliet, Shimano’s Corporate Communication Officer addressed the seminar
from the point of view of the industry. He memorized how he got introduced in the
world of cycling advocacy only some years ago through Velo Mondial and how he
found his path to the world of cycling projects and conferences. Shimano sponsored
Velo.Info and is now active in promoting Velo-City. He showed himself as an ardent
promoter of cycling for many purposes and he works hard to get the rest of the industry
involved as well. He recognizes cities and their representatives as major players and
pursues working with them.

Top: Shimano Logo

Left: Hans van Vliet

Bike Sharing
Public Bicycles / Bike Sharing now exists in more than 10 European countries, in more
than 30 European cities, with several technological systems. More cities recognize the
advantages of a bike sharing system. It gives easy and fast access (24/7), has an
automated system for renting and returning the bike, allows for one way cycling only,
and the bikes have a distinctive design.
But it has more benefits: It is highly flexible, allows for inter-modal travelling and does
not incur expenditures for maintenance.

There are some aspects one should take care of. The technology for pick-up and drop-off
at the location should be flexible and be based on racks. The technique for access should
be organized with smart card, mobile phone or deposit and there is a choice between
with or without identification (personalised vs. anonymous). The payment can be free of
charge or “pay as you go” and the financing of the operating service can be public or
private.

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Bike Sharing Bike Sharing

Ploiesti – project actions Rome – project actions

• Awareness raising for the idea of
bike sharing
• Design of a bike-sharing scheme:
– 400 users, 50 bikes, 6 cycle
stations
– Studying potential cycling
trips
– Using traffic study
– Studying Experiences and
know-how of partners
– Possibilities of integration
into PT
• Promotion of that scheme to
potential users (companies, local
government institutions, students)
• Feasibility study (Market potential,
transport study)
• Identification of optimal area
• Investigation for technologies
fleet with traditional or electric
bicycles
• Defining of scenarios of operations
and funding
• Preparation of implementing bike
sharing in Rome

Goteborg – project actions Berlin – project actions:

• To market the bike sharing system
to the companies within the Lundby Optimization of the Call a Bike system
district
• Ensure the implementation of the
system
• Evaluation of the pilot
- easy to use, high reliability
• Opening for private Users
• Preparation for a successful Roll-out
of the system to the whole inner city
• Profiles of thefts
• enlarge the group of users (new
target groups e.g. hotels,
companies)
• Improvement of access /
integration into Location Based
services
• Integration of bike-sharing systems
into PT

Further needs for bike sharing are to address all possible target groups, to create a
frame for competition and entrepreneurship, to develop options for the Integration into
PT (e.g. access via same medium, combined pricing strategies etc.).

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Communication and Awareness Raising
The Communication and Awareness Raising activities of Spicycles aim at encouraging
people to use bicycles for their trip by improving information about cycling,
communicating through different marketing campaigns, targeting an audience as broad
as possible. The public will be taken through stages of behavioural change: Awareness
raising ÆInfluencing attitudes Æ Change in behaviour. This will be done through
defining and & implementing communications strategies and awareness raising
methods. Following you will find some backgrounds, strategies and implementation s in
the various Spicycles cities on Communication and Awareness.

Strategies Barcelona Background Berlin

• Campaigns with main focus on
educational centres
• Information on existing
infrastructures & facilities for
cyclists
• Support activities by Cycling
Associations and Stakeholders
• Awareness raising of the benefits
from
cycling among local departments
and
governmental authorities
Implementation
• School campaign, “Move by bike”
• Bike parking facilities at schools
• “Bike Week” with complementary
activities
• Promotion of Cycle Registration
Progress & Results
• 12 schools and 876 students
Demonstrations – workshops –
street rides
• Huge participation at the “Bike
Week”
• Conflicts between bicycles &
drivers
– A risky & aggressive
behaviour
– Call for accidents.
• Several different activities and
actors with no coordination.
Strategies
• Use different media
(cinema, radio trails, events, etc.)
• The financial plan should be based
on sponsoring
• An Advisory Council with
members from many different
organisations is planned
Implementation
• Tender and selection of a
subcontractor
• Development of the campaign and
a plan for sponsoring
• Implementation of the campaign

5
Communication and Awareness Raising

Background Bucharest Background Göteborg

• Cycling has not been considered as
a potential solution for the traffic
problem
• Earlier bicycle activities has had a
low impact:
– Isolated activities
– Designed by different
associations
– No defined objectives
Strategies
A bike usage study:
• The citizens opinion regarding the
current status of the infrastructure.
• Outline a profile about the current
bike users.
• Identify the barriers & incentives of
bike usage.
Communication campaigns:
• Awareness campaign
• On-street communication
campaign
Implementation
• Accomplish a study about bicycle
users needs
• The study will be the base for
developing the communication
campaign.
• A few projects with focus on
infrastructure development will be
set up by the municipality
• Göteborg has a well developed
cycling infrastructure but it is not
being used to a satisfactory extent
Æ The share of cyclists has not
increased
• A sustainable communication
strategy is needed
Strategies
Focus on:
• Awareness raising & Advantages of
cycling
• Change attitudes
Methods:
• Information on existing
infrastructures
• Try different communication tools
• Direct communication with the
Bicycles Observers
(A group with 1000 cyclists)
Target groups:
• Private persons & Working sites
Implementation
Direct communication (Bicycles Observers)
• Regular reporting on website
• General meetings
• Test-panel for the new web-based
bike travel planner
Raise the status & increase the knowledge
& visibility
• Bicycle week
Cycle course for immigrant women
Printed matter

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Communication and Awareness Raising
Background Ploiesti
• Today - No national guidelines &
programmes at:
- Transport level
- The interface between land-use
and transports
• Guidelines & programmes needs to
be implemented by the local
communities.
Strategies
Communication strategy:
• A mix of dedicated channels
- Press releases
- Local meetings with targeted
members of the public
- Project leaflet
- Ploiesti website
- Direct mailing to organisations
- On-street communication
campaigns.
Target groups:
• Decision makers & citizens
Implementation:
• The Romanian version of the
newsletter
- printed and distributed to local
actors & students
• Workshop with the Mayor & high
school students
• The first local leaflet of the project
is drafted
• The project was disseminated at
the launch of the “Local
development strategy for 2007-
2015”
Communication and Awareness Raising
Strategies Rome
• Use internet and mass media for
communication
• Enhance the quality & quantity of
information for cyclists on the
Mobility Agency’s web site
• Foster the cycling mobility by
promoting and enforcing the inter-
modality service
• Inform about safe commuting
routes to school and work
Strategies
• Implement a procedure for
updating information on cycling
• Set up a shared database
• Implement a new calculation
module prototype
• The planning and making of the
information campaign will involve:
– Stakeholders
– Individual bikers
– Bikers associations
Implementation
Upgrading the geographic information
system layer on cycling
• Collection of territorial information
belonging to the former
mobility agency
• Integration of information on the
data model of ATAC
• Entry of the data concerning paths
length and duration, according
to the information of Municipality
Printed matters
Events
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Planning for Cycling
Cities starting level differences with differences in topography, cycling culture, urban
structure, mobility, modal share, financial possibilities. Common in the approach was
that in all cities the objectives are to plan for linear infrastructures, for parking
infrastructures and for policies with public transport.
Studies are done on ‘Cycling lane network in correlation with PT corridors’, Transport
on board, Safety conditions, Questionnaire for bike user needs, Manuals about
planning, Workshops with local authorities and stakeholders, Measuring methods of
trips by bike.
Some temporary results have been reached on ‘Second level planning of cycling
network’, on ‘Bicycle parking infrastructures planning’, ‘Public integration transport
and bike sharing policies’ and on ‘Awareness about ensure appropriate financing’.

Overview of actions for cycling planning in the Spicycles Cities

Action for cycling Barcelona Action for cycling Berlin

• Creation of the Office of the Bicycle
• Creation of bike sharing in the city
• Development cycling network
• Development of a technical
review/catalogue of traffic calming
measures considering bicycles
• Stationing and Parking of Bicycles
Plan
• Program against theft- “Protection
of bicycles against robberies”
• Improve inter-modality between
public transport and bicycle
transport
• Decrease bicycle-related accidents
• Ensure appropriate financing
approach
• Improve bicycle network
• Extend and innovate the bike
sharing system

Action for cycling Bucharest Action for cycling Ploiesti

• Planning cycling network by
origin-destination matrix (work
trips)
• Studying access with bicycles to the
leisure points
• Analysing the parking needs (inter-
modal nodes, shopping centres,
home)
• Intercepting associations initiatives
• Analysing the possibility for bike
rent and share developing
• Planning of a real network without
interruptions
• To implement cycling facilities in
the central area
• To create areas with priority for
cyclists
• Promoting campaigns by all media
channels

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Planning for cycling
Action for cycling Göteborg
• Increasing the attractiveness of the
Cycling network encouraging
people to use the existing Cycle
lanes by providing good services
and facilities (air-filling stations,
service-stations, information etc.)
• To establish a modern cycle centre
at the central station offering: bike
sharing, parking, repairs, air
stations, cycle information, etc.
Planning for cycling
Action for cycling Rome
• Creation of the Office of the Bicycle
to plan, implement and maintain
infrastructures and services for
cycling
• Development of main and local
cycling networks
• Development of inter-modality
bicycles – public transport by:
parking in the interchanges nodes,
routes to nodes, transport on
board, bike sharing
9
Building Local Partnerships
The Objective of this activity is to involve local actors in the cycling plans of local
authorities.

CITY Cycle Master Plan date

Barcelona achieved 2006 The goal is to promote cycling by
establishing and strengthening the
Berlin achieved 2005
collaboration with different groups
Bucharest no CMP such as political, commercial and social
Göteborg achieved 1999 players. The work leads to developing
specific actions, where partnership
Ploiesti no CMP
building is needed to create a Cycle
Rome on going Master Plan (CMP).

Overview Partnership in Barcelona

Barcelona Bicycle Civic

Commission

Infrastructures Group Promotion Group

Plans and develops projects which Promotes bicycle use among the citizens,
include cyclist infrastructures (parking visitors, enterprises and institutions.
stands, bike lanes, signalling).

Management Group
Develops projects in order to provide
more bicycle services to citizens (ex:bike
rental).

10
Building local partnerships
Overview partnership in Berlin
To solve this need of partnership and
consultation, the Senate Department of
Urban Development (SenStadt)
convened a FahrRat (Cycling Council),
which is composed of officials from
various city government units
concerned with biking (Department of
Urban Development, Department of
Education, Youth and Sport, the
police, traffic authorities, borough
street and road construction
departments), environmental and
transportation interest groups such as
Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club
(General German Bicycle Club,
ADFC), Verkehrsclub Deutschland
(Traffic Club of Germany, VCD) and
Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz
Deutschland (Friends of the Earth
Germany, BUND), metropolitan
transit companies (BVG, S-Bahn Berlin
GmbH), external experts (including
academics), a representative of the
bicycle trade and the Senate cycling
coordinator.
Overview partnership in Göteborg
The main goal for Göteborg is to create
conditions and working methods for
cycling planning already in the early
stages of building- and planning
phases; they are prerequisites for
cycling and needed to promote cycling
by fostering collaboration.
There are the Internal working groups
(2 meetings during 2007), the External
working groups (for example with
schools) and the
Building local partnerships
Overview partnership in Bucharest
The collaboration with local actors involved in
cycling continues and the media sector has
initiated a strong campaign in favour of cycling.
A session of debates was initiated and
organized with representatives of the
Municipality, discussing some important
political actions regarding the implementation
of the bicycle as a transport mode. Political and
administrative support from the Municipality is
gained and increased interest of local
authorities for cycling projects was induced.
Bucharest Municipality started the auction
process for bicycles routes. Municipality of the
3rd Bucharest district initiated the first bicycle
lanes near one of the most important green
areas.
Overview partnership in Ploesti
The emphasis of building local partnerships in
Ploesti is through the involvement of the high
school and university students. Important was a
public debate with a large audience for the
“Local development strategy for 2007-2015” at
the Petroleum and Gas University where
positive reactions came from the targeted
audience of business community, NGO’s,
policy makers and young people.
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Building local partnerships Building local partnerships

Regional working group (2 meetings

during 2007). Also there are working
groups around specific actions,
examples from 2007 are:
Cycle centre (workshop with 8 experts
from different companies ) & Bicycle
highways.
There was a kick-off with bicycle
observers of the bicycle lights project
with 100 participants.

Overview partnership in Rome ISTITUTIONAL

AUTHORITIES
In 2004 the environment authority of
city council established the technical
round table on the inter-modality
between bicycle and public transport. CYCLISTS
Issues of discussion are Signage, Free ASSOCIATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
transport on board, More Shelters & OWNERS
Racks; alternative transport issues were
discussed. Local media were involved.

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Benchmarking
The objective of the benchmarking activity is to evaluate whether bicycle planning will
be anchored in the partner cities’ organisations, as a result of Spicycles. Do results stick
in the log run? And, how can progress be compared with other European cities and show
what can be achieved.

Project measurement will happen at the begin and the end of the project. The Political,
organisational involvement with bicycle planning is done with the Velo.Info tool and gets
its overall value expressed in bronze, silver, gold or platinum. The benchmarks are
gathered on Preparation of the policy, Planning, Implementation and on Monitoring &
Evaluation. The progress between start and end of Spicycles indicates the difference. This
measure will also be done for other, non-partner cities.

An on-line questionnaire with ‘city characteristics’ regarding bicycle performance will

allow cross comparison for partner and non-partner cities. Data like Size, Existing modal
split, Bicycle infrastructure (if any), bicycle/public transport, Safety and security, Policy,
promotion, projects.
The online tool and the questionnaire allow for cross-comparison between different cities:
Spicycles partners, non-partners, categories of size, location, categories of bicycle use,
existing infrastructure. It shows the city’s position and gives instant feedback of
completing the questionnaire: Data for data

Initial results show that front runner cities are: Barcelona, Gothenburg, Berlin; an
Intermediate position is for Rome and most room for improvement is for Bucharest and
Ploiesti. In general a high performance on Preparation and Planning is easier than on
Implementation and Monitoring.
Major points for improvement can be derived from this overview:

Preparation Planning Implementation Monitoring &

evaluation
Barcelona - Timetable - Monitoring
Reporting
Review
Berlin - - - -
Gothenburg - - - -
Rome Partnership Staff training All elements
building
Bucharest All elements All elements All elements All elements

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Ploiesti All elements All elements All elements All elements
Some examples of reports from the Online Questionnaire: Data for Data
Progress score (bronze, silver, gold) 5%

5
4%
4
3 3%
2
1 2%
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My city All silver cities Silver cities > 100.000

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% bicycle infrastructure of total Modal share bicycle

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Accidents cyclists

16
14
12
10
8
6 The online questionnaire will be made available on
4 the website.
2
0
My city All silver cities Silver cities > 100.000

14
Results of the Mid Term Seminar
The attendants of then mid term seminar were asked tot discuss the five presented issues
in smaller groups. We would like to extend our special thanks to special Tom Godefrooij,
Mario Gualdi, Cristina Pou and Hermann Bluemel, who took care of the reporting.
The results of the Mid Term Seminar will be studies and integrated in future document.

The following remarks were made

Bike Sharing
ƒ Position ‘bike sharing’ as ‘public transport’ (as opposed to private bicycles).
Public transport can be provided by various transport techniques, like busses,
trains, trams, and also: bicycles. Public bicycles provide ‘individual public
transport’.
ƒ And as a consequence: look for strong connections with other parts of the public
transport system thus enabling individuals to make smooth door-to-door trips.
ƒ Analyse the contribution of public bicycles to (individual) quality of life as a tool
to decide on a proper formulation of performance requirements of the public
bicycles system.
ƒ When dealing with bike-sharing, it is essential to ensure inter-operability at least
in systems working in the same country.
ƒ Make sure access technology is as simple as possible and linked to other public
transport systems

15
 ƒ Make it accessible to residents, business and tourists therefore, clear, simple and
easy access.
ƒ Is the involvement of commercial businesses linked with advertising with highly
aggressive marketing tied to long term contract 10-20 years, a good thing or a
bad thing?
ƒ Advantages: cheap for user
ƒ Bad and cheap design will prove to be problematic; if vehicles are not up to
scratch they will be a bad experience for riders or prove not to be serviceable
ƒ Be aware of monopolisation by commuters who will use up all vehicles that will
all go to end stations which then will lack space.
ƒ Need to think about links between fixed stations and flexible hire processes.
ƒ Keep looking abroad for interesting cycling concepts, as cities are increasingly
developing new and original ways to organizing cycling services and creating
new jobs. Take bike-sharing, which is particularly apt at tackling the home-work
commute bottleneck by placing public bikes at PT transport nodes and stewards
directing commuters to the bike stations. This Japanese experience is a successful
example of how to close the “last mile” commute.

Communication and awareness raising

ƒ Cycling awareness is one of the key hurdles to be addressed. In many countries it
is still not perceived as a legitimate transport alternative. The problem is the lack
of infrastructure and safety conditions. The question is: how to raise awareness
when the basics are not even there? What to do first? Whether going for
infrastructure or awareness, or both together, it is important to keep sight of the
“regional” dimension, for lots of commuters travel into the city from outside.
Thus, planning and communication must be coordinate with the metropolitan
and regional authorities.
ƒ Need to educate people early could cycling be a pre-requisite of a driving test?
ƒ Change behaviour not attitudes (and hope for a behaviour change) [cognitive
dissonance]
ƒ (Observation :) A high percentage of female cyclists is usually going together
with (and thus an indication for) a high level of bicycle use.
ƒ No campaigns without understanding the problems of the target group.
ƒ Analyse who are the stakeholders.
ƒ Know their aims and interests.
ƒ Analyse their position in the playing field (friend or enemies, decision
influencing power, etc)
ƒ Give information at the right time to the right person/party.

16
Planning for cycling
• If one cycling challenge had to be singled out has the most prominent, it has
to be the actual convincing people to leave their cars and mopeds behind and
take a bike. Let’s be frank: people are bad weather-conscious, are generally
lazy, cannot stand helmets, hate to get to work in a sweat and feel insecure
when riding a bike. Planning and regulation can take care only of some of
these idiosyncrasies (e.g. helmets, safety), but for the rest a cultural shift is
required, and cities must be credible in sending across the message that
cycling is fun. Thus, start early on and teach children.
• When planning for cycling, one should not necessarily strive to reach an ideal
cycling environment, for this is possible only in certain contexts. There are
ancient and convoluted urban frames that are not suitable for state-of-art
cycling lanes, still cycling can be made possible if cyclists are granted the
conditions to ride in co-share with motorized modes. The need for motorists’
education is great. They have to learn how to “respect” cyclists.
• Need for re-education of planning and infrastructure implementers
• Access to own bicycle at home is biggest bottleneck = home accessibility.
Particularly with apartments
• Campaign target for building companies: cycle garaging standards, public
buildings as well
• Don’t be afraid to give advantages to cyclists to give cycling a stronger
competitive position towards other modes.

Benchmarking
• Contextualise cycling within a bigger picture
• Quality of cyclists experience important - not size of facility
• Benchmarking more than data gathering. Complexity of metrics is a subject
for further analysis – not just an increase in cycling but who, what, where:
gender, ethnicity, socio-economic-status
• Plus analysis what for – trip purpose (with multiple purposes allowable)
• Finally, if one thing is expected out of SPICYCLES 1,5 year from now, it is
that cycling share has increased in the six cities and safety improved.
• Don’t allow overall ‘no room for improvement’ score. (There is always room
for improvement!)
• Organise in depth peer to peer benchmarking to enlarge the learning
experience of partner cities.

17
Participating Supporting
Cities Agencies

Rome,
Dipartimento X, DB Rent GmbH,
Politiche Ambientali ed Germany
Agricole
Italy
Berlin,
Senate Department for Goudappel Coffeng
BV,
Urban Development
(SenStadt), The Netherlands
Germany

Ploiesti, CPI Progetti S.P.A.,

City Hall (PMP), Italy
Romania

Bucharest,
Velo Mondial,
Regia Autonoma de
The Netherlands
Transport Bucuresti
(RATB),
Romania
Barcelona, University of Rome
Barcelona Municipality "La Sapienza" DITS,
(BCN), Italy
Spain
ATAC
Göteborg,
(Agenzia per i Trasporti
Traffic and Public
Autoferrotranviari del
Transport Authority
Comune di Roma),
Sweden
Italy
ISIS
Istituto di Studi per
Coordinator: l'Integrazione dei
Sistemi),
Italy