Author Archives: jm

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.

Return on investment in bike sharing schemes

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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.

Ideas for promoting bike logistics

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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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
Economical support: Subsidizing cargobikes in several countries have demonstrated it as a good attempt to increase cargobike use and enhance bike logistics.

Copenhagenize index

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The Copenhagenize index is a well-known index for every person who wants to know about urban biking. It punctuates cities from more than forty countries based on several points. It gives hints and demonstrates how to do good things to promote urban biking development. It shows that not only bicycle infrastructure is important, but also advancing towards cities for people. The Copenhagenize index is not a competition, rather a showcase of actions to enter this club and a road map about successful actions for specialists.

The Copenhagenize index has three pillars: a secure and connected bike infrastructure, specific politics to increase urban biking, and budget and support. Regarding the last point, Utrech (the number one in the 2025 edition) invested 66€ per year and citizen in urban biking. Additional issues such as 89 bike parking every one thousands inhabitants or almost one third of total displacements were done by bicycle made Utrech to appear on the Copenhagenize index. These and many more ideas can be extracted from it.

What is advisable when you want to start or continuing pedaling when after moving to an other country to work?

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It is normal that some doubts appear when moving to a different country. Some of them are related to biking.

It is logical that different countries follow alternative justices over using a bicycle daily, so the first tip is to take into account the local laws regarding it. Receiving a fine for not knowing the local law when pedaling is discouraged.

Next, choosing your future bike (if you did not bring it with you) is essential and for that take a look at the bicycles that local bikers drive. For instance, if the city/country is hilly, ebikes and mountain bikes use to be preferred. If in a flat city, a city bike is usually acceptable. Buying a first hand or thrift bicycle depends on your economic situation. However, never buy a bike without bill as it could be robbed and thus you would contribute to bicycle thefts.

Another tip is to look at local bikers: how they ride, where they go, what garment they wear regarding local climate. This allows you to anticipate the best behavior while riding.

Finally, if you want to meet bikers and make friends, one of the best ways is to participate in the Critical Mass.

Bike activism matters

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I distinguish two steps in bike activism depending on the urban biking moment. Firstly, bike activism is essential when there are few bicyclers on a city. The main action of them is just ride their bikes as most people tend not to try something new unless some other people have done it before. So, if pedestrians see bikers pedaling happily, they are more prone to do the same. After checking they can do it, more people want to enjoy bicycles. If parents ride bikes, children want to do it also. If children pedal, parents would do the same. It is a snowball. Secondary actions of bike activists at this point are fighting for infrastructures such as segregated bike lines, secure bike parking and urban design pro-biking. Many different actions can be done to convince politicians of the biking benefits. At the same time, motor vehicles drivers are being accustomed to bicycles.

Secondly, the final step starts when the number of displacements by bikes is a majority. Few countries have reached it at this moment, located in central and northern Europe. One can realize it when bicycle traffic stuck and use of motor vehicles in cities is less than 20%. They are societies in which a great majority of inhabitants are in favor of less pollutant ways of transport, and bikes above all. The impact of bike activists is less visual as almost everybody uses bicycles. Still, this type of activism is appreciated and its actions mutate into more specific issues. Examples are workshops on how to face social disasters, bike tourism (outside cities) promotion, non-competing sports events, bike concerts and bike leisure in general encouragement, among others.

To me, the natural, logical progression from step one to step two is something in which the majority of countries around the globe are immersed. We do not stop. Thanks to all bike activists!

How useful are cargo bikes in natural disasters and wars?

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The bicycle characteristics are ideal when natural disasters impact human livings. As I exposed when writing about bicycles after the DANA in Valencia (Spain), in 2024, bikes and above all cargo bikes are narrower than cars and transport first needed food to where is needed.

The concern about climate change, natural disasters and even wars has created initiates to share ideas regarding it. One example is the Kollapscamp in Wittstock (Germany). Contrary to what the name suggest, it is not a pessimistic camp for bikes. This event attracted 900 people to contribute to a platform to learn and share ideas about how bicycles can help overcome natural disasters and social crisis through workshops and talks. It also promoted strong, self sufficient communities without centralized nets, psychology, social organization and logistics.

Previously, as back as 2012, some tests have been done. For instance, the Disaster Relief Trials (DRT) in Portland (USA) consisted in bike cargo tests as a drill for using this type of bicycle to bring food aid to a catastrophic area. They evaluated how good are cargo bikes in transporting water or assisting in paths full of mackerel. They concluded that non-electric bikes are the best as the good management of energy is not needed in such scenarios.

The Tolocar project, promoted by the XYZ Cargo in Hamburg, has suggested to reinforce the supply routes with cargo bikes in Chernígov (Ukraine). XYZ proposes modular systems to adapt cargo bikes in few time.

What does a hotel need to be biketourism friendly?

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As there are more and more bikers, bike tourism has increased over the last years. This alternative way of making tourism allows enjoying places from a calmer perspective, being in close contact with local populations in a higher degree and protecting environment in comparison with the traditional tourism. Even today the number of hotels prepared for bike tourism is still narrow because they were not built to taken into account bikers.

Some tips to make hotels biketourism friendly are the follows. These hotels have to have a specific space, indoor or outdoor, for bicycles. It should be large enough as to allow this way of transport plus the saddlebags. If outdoor, it has to be secure, i.e. be closed, have a robust, unique door wide enough for bikes and if possible CCTVs with banners to avoid thefts. The hall should be large in order to allow all bicyclers and their luggage since bike tourists can pedal in big groups. As for the room, it is enough to have a bed, a wardrobe and a bathroom. Not surprisingly, the bathroom should have a shower tray as taking a shower rejuvenate a body after pedaling many kilometers. It is advisable to count with a green area within the limits of the hotel for such bike tourists who prefer camping instead of sleeping in a room. Finally, the hotel menu should consist in energetic food due to the fact that bikers will burn the total calorie intake during the next bike tourism day.

Can I afford a cargo bike?

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Over the last years, cargo bikes are becoming more popular. They can be used to carry groceries, children or even a piano. A person who has not had a cargo bike previously can think “I want it, but can not have it”. The main problem is where will be saved this bike as they are larger than traditional bicycles. This can constitute a prejudice since a car or a motorbike is also large, but people usually find a place for them. If you have two cars, get rid of one of them and now you have space for the cargo bike. Additionally, cities should modify the urban design to incorporate more spaces for bicycles (including cargo bikes) and people, and take it off to cars. For instance, if living blocks will be obliged to dedicate a space within the buildings for them, bikers will have a specific space for their bikes. Again, councils can build public bike parking that has been demonstrated effectiveness in other cities.

What makes successful a public bike sharing system?

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Many cities around the world already have or are implementing a public bike sharing system as their citizens demand more and more bicycle advancements. The bike movement can not be stopped, only delayed. Among all those sharing systems, there are some that have a great success and some others which need a push.

What are the key points in a good public bike sharing system? Knowing the characteristics of the city is key. If they city is flat and small or medium size, bicycles should not be electric since there is no need for that. Indeed, less e-bikes means more exercise, better health and less costs. Next, it is common that such system are used slightly more by women, so it is a good idea to design them under a feminine perspective. On the other hand, the more difficult step is the first one: to implant the first bike sharing stations and bicycles when the city has few cyclists. Do not worry, as more people pedaling, much more will like to do it. If new bike infrastructures like segregated bike lanes, the better. At the beginning, councils can doubt between doing the bike sharing system themselves or hire a private company. The final decision will depend on several factors such as budget, public workers knowledge on biking or if there is at least one urban biker among the councils workers. This last point is extremely important due to the fact that bad bike sharing systems and bike lanes had been built in the past, and new bicycle viewpoints thanks to those public workers over the years have promoted alternative, bike-friendly redesigns of them. Implementing these innovations costs money and time.