Cycling to School

Good Practice

Sustainability

Promoting cycle mobility on childrens’ way to school.

Bolzano City Council

Italy

Local policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

Teach students to cycle to school to reduce reliance on cars and crowding on public transport. The Municipality of Bolzano wants to make students independent so that they can move independently to get to school and back home. In this way, parents are spared the burden of using private vehicles to drop children off at school. The same goes for high school students: for short trips, we want them to get used to using green modes of transport whenever possible, instead of scooters or other fuel-powered vehicles.

CONTEXT

Large flows of cars entering the city in the morning and exiting it in the late afternoon make mobility in Bolzano’s suburban and central area problematic. To limit the already difficult traffic situation, our aim is to raise awareness among children and keep them from growing reliant on cars to get from one place to another (e.g. workplace).

POLICY DESCRIPTION

Considering high schools are located in various points of the city and might be relatively far, particularly for those living outside city limits, students who don’t live near their school have two options: cycling or catching the bus. The aim of the Municipality of Bolzano is to make it possible for every student to go to school comfortably by bike using designated paths, thus avoiding the dangers of roads that are used by cars.

In 2018 the Municipality of Bolzano decided to ensure that every school had a bike path in the nearby area permitting students to get safely to school. The study revealed critical issues involving road crossings and lack of bicycle parking. After analysing the situation, the Municipality of Bolzano modifiedroutes to solve those issues. In addition, primary school children have participated for years (only interrupted because of the pandemic) in courses to learn proper behaviour on the road. Similarly, we want to encourage all citizens to make greater use of bicycles to get around the city. To do this, each year ‘Bolzano by Bike’ is organised, a day that only bikes -no cars!- can circulate. The aim is to show citizens how easy it is to get around the city.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the projects “Bolzano in Bici” and “Bimbi in bici” (Kids on bicycles) have been relaunched. It is in our interest to promote cycling, and the city welcomes every chance to encourage it.

KEY ASPECTS

A good transport network is key to reducing car traffic. Bolzano is a small city, hence the use of bikes and buses is recommended. For short trips walking is even better, considering that main services (primary and middle schools, libraries, etc.) can be easily reached on foot within 10 to 15 minutes. The action plan has been built with the involvement of families and schools through discussion groups and suggestions from schools, municipal police force and families.

RESULTS

There are currently almost 70 km of cycle paths. On average a citizen of Bolzano uses a bicycle for 26% of their trips within city limits.

Policy's Website

Sylvia

Profanter

Director of the Office for Statistics and Time of the City

tempi.citta@comune.bolzano.it

Good Practice