Luko – a European insurtech company – recently published its Global Bicycle Index 2022, where it named Utrecht in the Netherlands as the most bicycle-friendly city in the world.
The index studied 90 cities, which were chosen for their willingness to invest and work on initiatives to improve cycling infrastructure and safety. The study focused on six main categories that were judged to make a city cycling-friendly:
- Weather;
- Percentage of bicycle usage;.
- Crime & Safety: Fatalities / 100,000 Cyclists, Accidents / 100,000 Cyclists, and Bicycle Theft Score;
- Infrastructure: Number of Bicycle Shops / 100,000 Cyclists, Specialized roads & road quality score, Investment & infrastructure quality score;
- Sharing: Number of bicycle sharing & rental stations / 100,000 Score, # of shared Bicycles / 100,000 Score; and
- Events: “No Car Day”, Critical Mass Score.
The final results were presented on a scale from 0 to 100, where the higher the score, the better the city. With an overall score of 77.84%, Utrecht was also shown to have the highest overall number of cyclists (51%), along with a high number of days suitable for cycling. Its high quality infrastructure and investment in that infrastructure were found to make cycling both feasible and appealing. On the down side, the high number of cyclists has led to a high accident fatality rating and bicycle theft rating.
The top 10 cycling-friendly cities in the world – and their percentage of population that cycles – include:
- Utrecht, the Netherlands – 51%;
- Munster, Germany– 39.10%;
- Antwerp, Belgium– 28.90%;
- Copenhagen, Denmark – 29%;
- Amsterdam, the Netherlands – 32%;
- Malmo, Sweden – 30%;
- Hangzhou, China – 30%;
- Bern, Switzerland – 15%;
- Bremen, Germany– 21%; and
- Hannover, Germany – 19%.