One of the most striking aspects of city traffic
is the recurrent congestion that now lasts for many hours of the
day and spreads over large areas of the city. Thanks to their agility
in the traffic, bikes and motorbikes offer a conceptually different
solution to this traffic sclerosis in view of the reduced space
required per person transported and the ease of finding parking
places that cannot be used by other means of transport.
On the other hand, the drastic solution of traffic congestion through
the monopoly of public transport, which some have called for, would
require radical changes to the physiognomy of city mobility: conversion
from cars to public transport would entail sacrificing the freedom
of scheduling, bus stops and routes that no collective transport
can assure; even in economic terms, it is doubtful whether the increased
use of bikes and motorbikes would really benefit public and private
finances.
The time has come to give more space to bikes and motorbikes, by
facilitating their use and improving subjective and objective safety
conditions.
This approach clearly meets with consensus, as is confirmed by its
implementation in many European countries. It even appears with
authority in the planning documents for the OECD and Council of
Europe which repeatedly underline the importance of the role of
bikes and motorbikes as a means of transport, to be integrated when
planning city mobility in the general use of collective services
and individual cars.
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