EuroVelo network shows double digit growth on all routes
Europe’s most comprehensive cycling network, the EuroVelo infrastructure, has posted double digit growth on all of its arteries so far this year, according to fresh counts.
New figures from the Eco-Counter were presented at the recent Velo-City Conference in Ljubljana. Among the highlights it was revealed that increases on the network ranged 10% through to 45% ridership growth with the peak increase seen on EuroVelo 17. The data was benchmarked against 2019 figures to account for the unusual trends seen during 2020/21.
Having spiked during the pandemic’s peak, a time when domestic cycle travel became one of the only viable ways to get out and adventure, the trend has continued and is now nicely ahead of pre-pandemic rates. The enhanced ridership along the route has been shown to have strong economic benefits; cycle tourism in Europe is in fact said to be worth as much as €44 billion.
Further encouraging is the finding that rates are higher not only on weekends, but that weekday usage has been consistently higher too, indicating usage for transport to and from workplaces or educational facilities. Eurovelo 17 was by some margin the largest gainer in weekday cycling, adding 48% on 2019 averages, followed by EV9 at 26%; EV8 at 26% and EV15 at 22%. Weekend Cycling was up most sharply on EV4 and EV17, at 41% and 39% up, respectively.
Zooming in, there are areas that demonstrated even greater spikes in usage locally. Eurovelo 8 – the Mediterranean Route, east of Aix-en-Provence – has ridership up 91% in the first five months of 2022, versus 2019. Likewise, Coulée d’Oc on EuroVelo 3 – Pilgrims Route, north of Bordeaux, is up 79% in 2022 so far versus 2019.
The aggregated results are based on sample data from 170 automatic counters installed by Eco-Counter.
With electric bikes now becoming a more prominent part of the cycling mix, there have been calls for greater investment into longer distance networks that can account for the now longer accessible distances to most riders. The University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy released a special edition of its journal on the subject recently.
