A study reveals the best cities in the world for cycling. The report also reveals data related to accidents, theft, infrastructure, road quality, and bike sharing prevalence, safety and many more.
Using data and statistics to analyse investment in areas such as safety, infrastructure, bike sharing and cycling events, the index evaluates the cycling conditions in 50 German and 90 international cities.
According to the study by the bicycle insurance specialists Coya, Utrecht is the #1 city for cycling overall due to high bicycle usage, good road infrastructure, and low bicycle crime rates.
The Top 20 Highest Scoring Bicycle Cities
“By including a spectrum of different factors in this study ranging from infrastructural to societal, we were able to compare how cities are performing well, and which areas that have room for improvement. What is clear is that no city is perfect in terms of cycling conditions, and we can all learn from each other.” says Andrew Shaw, Founder of Coya. “Take Bogota in Colombia for instance, where they have been hugely successful in implementing a weekly car-free day, yet several people have been murdered this year whilst having their bikes stolen. It’s our hope that the results of this study can help cities benchmark and identify these areas where they need to step up, as well as celebrate what they’ve achieved.”
“It’s fascinating to see the correlation between high bicycle usage and city ranking, as it’s clear that the better the city is for cycling, the more people will ride,” comments Andrew Shaw, Founder of Coya. “The fact that the top three cities are in northern Europe reflects the notion that cycling is a way of life in those countries, which has clearly had an impact on the amount of money they’ve invested in it. It’s an encouraging representation of the efforts city officials make to improve cycling conditions, and proves that government investment in safety and infrastructure ultimately pays off.”
“One of the most important factors for us as an insurance company was to look into rates of bicycle theft around the world, as we wanted to understand the magnitude of the problem. We were surprised to discover that it was no easy task, as bicycle theft is perpetually underreported in some countries,” says Andrew Shaw, Founder of Coya. “It’s a felony that unfortunately tends to go under the radar in places of high crime, when reporting of a stolen bicycle is very unlikely to lead to any action or prosecution. By adjusting the bicycle theft rate to the widely-reported homicide rate we were able to paint a more accurate picture of stolen bike incidents in each city. Not only will this data help to inform our own business model, but it can help those living and visiting the cities with the highest bicycle theft rates to be extra vigilant.”
Please find the complete methodology and full data set on https://coya.com/bike/index-2019
