‘Bicycles are the new toilet paper’

COVID-19 brought about radical changes to the mobility landscape in the world. Many cities have seen traffic congestion to decrease and bikes frequent their roads. In a recent article, Guardian reports that during the pandemic, bikes appear to be the new toilet-paper, with bike-sales booming and citizens across the world calling governments to transform roads into cycleways to ease traffic on bike paths. In Brussels, the government uses the lockdown phase to roll-out an additional 40km of cycle paths in order to prepare the city for the post lockdown phase. While we are still in uncharted waters, it is clear that mobility interventions to make cities less car centric will be on the surge. Currently, in cities ranging from Milan, Berlin, New York, Barcelona, Paris and Oakland, CA, an “open streets” movement is taking root. At Cities-For-People, we are following these updates to draw inspiration and promote people-oriented transport and mobility, to shape a greener, more sustainable and more inclusive future of mobility in cities. For more information COVID-19 brings to the surface new solutions and cooperation models between operators and local authorities, click here.