U.S. and European Zoning, Compared
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Sara Qiu
In October 2020 we lived under the Covid-19 pandemic and Sara Qiu (https://saraqiu.com/, in Spanish) discovered the power of walking: Part of the GR-11 (a long path for walkers that crosses all along the Pyrenees) and many more. This way, an idea developed inside her mind: slow travel and enjoy the moment. She bought a second-hand bicycle at the end of Summer and pedaled from Zaragoza to Oviedo (both Spanish cities). Sara did not know much about bikes and equipment at that time.
This first trip was the starting point of something higher. In 2022, she set off again from Zaragoza to China. She did not have a closed plan, rather the only thought that she had was to arrive to China and go back, but slowly. Sara applied this philosophy through Europe and Asia. She crossed France, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Turkey or Iran to China in fifteen months. During this time, she learnt a precious lesson: Every day is different. Never did she knew where to sleep, who she met or what could happen in advance. She learn to adapt, to trust, to release control.
This exemplary woman experienced a change in the way she was perceived. For instance, when she appeared covered with dust and sweat, she felt her effort was recognized and a sense of empathy was developed. In such cases, first came curiosity by local inhabitants, then respect.
Silence was her personal decision. She did not wanted music or podcasts while pedaling. Indeed, silence was very much appreciated when pedaling between mountains, secondary roads and deserts and learnt to be alone with herself.
Sara decided that such a trip was not going to be a survival one, in fact she flight back to Spain in Winter and continued riding her bike after some months. She did not have to demonstrate anything to anybody, just enjoy her trip.
Moreover, she defends that planning kills surprise. At the beginning, she recorded videos, wrote chronicles and shared reflections on social nets with the hope of living from it. However, she soon realized that the most important is not money, but sharing what she was seeing. She also defends that the world is not as dangerous as news display, there is a lot of goodness when traveling slow. She came to China in Winter 2024.
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Return on investment in bike sharing schemes
The report Return on investment in bike sharing schemes by EY, Cycling Industries Europe and EIT Urban Mobility is pioneer regarding the worldwide impact of real bike sharing systems as it comes to economy, health and society. Publish in October 2025, its conclusions aim at showing that the bike sharing systems are not only an alternative for sustainable transport, but also an strategic tool to improve productivity, reduce public expenditure and improve life quality in European cities.
This report can transform the way cities see urban biking as part of their strategies on transport and clean air, demonstrating bike sharing systems contribute to more ecological, clean and habitable cities. Thus, healthier and happier citizens. It was measured that bike sharing systems reduce logistic costs up to 90% when comparing with cars. They also are a tool for democratizing urban mobility and promoting social inclusion.
Data for this report was obtained from 2024. In this year there were 438,400 bicycles in bike sharing systems in the European Union, UK, Switzerland and Norway. More than a thousand million kilometers were pedaled with 2.12 travels per bike and day. 15% of such bikers were use cars, 29% in public transport and 56% by walking if bike sharing systems were not invented. Moreover, 55% of bikers combine bike sharing systems with public transport. So, bike sharing systems do not compete with public transport, rather they are allied.
Regarding economy, €305 million was the annual profit. The report demonstrated that one Euro invested in a bike sharing systems returned a 10% annually. Focusing on health, savings were about €40 million thanks to the prevention of 969 chronic diseases cases associated to the use of bicycles. Additionally, 200 nitrogen tones and 45,000 CO2 tones were avoided every year, resulting in about €3 million .
The report goes one step further and prognosticates that if cities promotes a firm wager on bike sharing systems, the annual economic impact would be €964 million with a return on investment of 75% by 2030. Health savings would be €173 million and 12,900 people would work directly in the bike sharing sector. Finally, €212 million would be saved in productivity which come from 5 million hours European people lost in traffic jams annually.
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Ideas for promoting bike logistics
Bike logistics is increasingly being promoted by advance cities, but there are others which have to change its politics and really promote the use of bicycles in deliveries. Here mayors have some ideas:
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Allow trailers plus bikes: Surprisingly, trailers are not allowed in some cities and should be legal as they are essential accessories in bike logistics. Some of them can carry 200 kilogram and electric motors make it easy for cyclists.
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Knowledge: Mayors should know the projects related to bikes already in development in their cities. They should listen to urban bikers since they share a specialized vision regarding sustainable, urban mobility such as tips, difficulties, challenges and needs. This is important to avoid false steps, and waste of money and time.
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Space: Bike logistics focuses on the last mile. Cities have normally had empty public spaces, even buildings. One way to give life to them is councils yield them to bike logistics. Bike logistics can not develop often due to the fact of the impossibility of renting a 200 squared meters in downtown. This would solve a recurrent problem.
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Transfer: The more cargobikes are seen in a city, the more cargobikes will be on that city. If councils transfer a cargobike fleet to firms and citizenship, they popularize them. Moreover, as this is not a bike sharing service, such bikers end buying them after testing cargobikes.
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Economical support: Subsidizing cargobikes in several countries have demonstrated it as a good attempt to increase cargobike use and enhance bike logistics.