Category Archives: Public transit

Tilikum Crossing

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Back in September 2015 the Tilikum Crossing bridge was inaugurated in Portland, USA, to connect neighbors such as South Waterfront, Lair Hill or Brooklyn. This bridge was awarded as the Best Highway/Bridge by the magazine Engineering News-Record in 2016. Why is it so special?

The Tilikum Crossing bridge is a clear example of mobility for people. On the one hand, it allows public transport such as light trains like MAX, the tram Portland Streetcar, and buses such as FX2-Division, 9-Powell Blvd, 17-Holgate/Broadway or 19-Woodstock/Glisan. On the other hand, there are also two 4 meters wing sides to enjoy views over the Willamette river. This space is leveraged by bikes and pedestrians, so that every way of transport and person has its dedicated line. Cars, vans and trucks are prohibited.

This point not only ensures practically no noise, but also way less pollution. Not surprisingly, the local newspaper The Atlantic defined it as the bridge that banned cars. In contrast, the project promoter baptized it as the bridge for people. Indeed, a participatory process was carried out to select its name. Tilikum means people, community or relatives in Chinook Wawa (a historical contact language from the Pacific Northwest).

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.