Cycling policy in strategic documents of Polish cities

Abstract

Cycling transport fits well into the principles of sustainable development of cities and regions. Cycling policy is more and more often reflected in various strategic documents which are to set out measures to increase the share of cycling in urban transport. The paper evaluates the manner of implementing the assumptions of sustainable transport through the analysis of strategic documents from Polish cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants. The study was carried out in four stages. Firstly, the authors reviewed literature and reference material, i.e. strategic documents at European and national level. In the second stage, they analysed the strategies of urban development, indicating areas of urban development in which issues related to cycling were placed. The third phase focused on the additional (substantive) strategic documents related to transport and cycling—urban cycling policies. The task here was to assess their completeness and conformity with the guidelines of the European Commission concerning the creation of cycling policy. In the last stage of the study, the authors assessed whether measures for the development of cycling infrastructure were implemented in the studied cities: changes to the cycling infrastructure of the said cities were analysed by determining the dynamics of changes in the length of cycle paths and the availability of bicycle-sharing systems. The study showed the cohesion of cycling policies of Polish cities with higher-level (European and national) documents. It was also confirmed that in the majority of analysed documents the passages concerning cycling are prepared in the context of urban transport.

Could It Be a Bike for Everyone? The Electric Bicycle in Poland

“…This approach will allow us to potentially show that electrification of bicycles and the promotion of this measure may not always bring the desired results for planned changes in urban transport. As mentioned earlier, in CEE countries bicycles are still less important as a means of transport than in Western European countries [10]. In the studied region-but not only there-bicycles are still largely associated with seasonal recreation.…”

“…Despite the fact that most parts of Poland have favourable physical and geographic conditions (topography, climate, etc. ), an insufficiently developed cycling infrastructure and the perception of cycling as a means of transport still remains a problem [10].…”

Polska polityka rowerowa na tle dobrych praktyk europejskich

“…Mimo to w wielu przypadkach brakuje spójnej, całościowej wizji, dominują krótkoterminowe plany o charakterze operacyjnym, działania są wykonywane "ad hoc". Wśród poddanych analizie 18 miast, jedynie dziewięć uchwaliło dokument nazwany polityką rowerową, będący całościowym spojrzeniem na wszystkie płaszczyzny związane z przemieszczaniem się na rowerze, wraz z infrastrukturą oraz wpływem na życie mieszkańców (Kwiatkowski & Szymańska, 2020;Gadziński & Goras, 2019). W trzech (Gdańsku, Łodzi i Szczecinie) funkcjonują dokumenty, które w głównej mierze odnoszą się do rozbudowy infrastruktury rowerowej (sieci dróg, tras, standardów projektowych i wykonawczych).…”

A Typology of Attitudes towards the E-Bike against the Background of the Traditional Bicycle and the Car

“…These arguments could be very important as electric bikes have a real chance to replace car travel, as has already been documented in research [18,19]. This is particularly relevant in countries with an underdeveloped cycling culture [20] and a low level of cycling policy, such as Poland [21].…”