Seville Shows Proof In Their Success

In my daily perusing of the internet, I came across an article about the city of Seville, Spain. I didn't know anything about  the city, but saw that Seville hosted the annual international cycling planning conference, Velo City, which is organized by the European Cyclists Federation, this past March.

Apparently Seville is a perfect example, if any proof is needed, that if you build a cycle infrastructure, people will get on their bikes and cycle. The city went from a very basic starting point in 2006, the city built a full cycle track system that has seen the number of cyclists rise from 6,000 to 600,000 in four years. Seville’s local metropolitan authority estimates that that 6.6% of all journeys in the city are now made by bikes.

Under The Steering Plan for Bicycles (2007-2010), Seville has constructed 120 kilometers of segregated cycle tracks, up from the no cycle tracks at all. A public bicycle hire system has also been created in that time. Called Sevici, and based on Paris’ bike hire system, there are over 2,500 bicycles available which can be collected from 250 points over the city.

The rapid transformation of Seville to a city with a now ingrained cycle culture must become the point of reference to show that if investment is made than cities can become cycle friendly. So if Seville can do it, everybody can do it.