Untitled - Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego

ate at our West-European neighbours, and are slowly beginning to appear in
Poland as well (e.g. in Cracow). It is quite obvious that due to financial constraints
and because of the popularity of cycling as a form of recreation, relatively
few people in our country invest in equipment built especially for city cycling.
However, it is often enough to make do with any bike at hand, providing
it with good lighting and a solid lock, to be able to use it to commute to work,
school or shop, leaving frustrated car drivers far behind.
12.3. Bicycle in transport system – facts and figures
Quite frequently, exact figures and facts appeal to our imagination better than
anything else. With this in mind, let us take a look at transport and cycling statistics.
The number of passenger cars in Europe continues to grow, even though at
different rates for particular countries. According to the data of the DG for
Transport and Energy of the European Commission 1 . in 2007 the number of passenger
cars in the EU-27 reached 229.8 million, which constitutes a 41% increase
over 1990. In countries of the EU-15, the increase was somewhat lower (33%),
but in the new member states it amounted to 124%, exceeding 220% in Latvia
and Lithuania, 174% in Romania and 177% in Poland. The developed nations
have reached a certain level of saturation with passenger cars, with the rate of
increase below 20 % (Sweden, France, Germany). According to the data of the
Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS), there were19.5 million vehicles (including
14.6 million cars) on Polish roads at the end of 2007 2 . However, the road system
itself has not been expanding anywhere close to the rate which would ensure
trouble-free driving of these vehicles.
Unfortunately, we do not use our cars solely for the purpose of covering
longer distances. It turns out that 30% of car trips in Europe are shorter than
3 km, and 50% are shorter than 5 km. And it is precisely the kind of distances
over which the bicycle in most cases is a significantly faster mode of transport
than the car!
At the same time, there are two bicycles in an average Polish household, and
60% of Poles do ride a bicycle, at least on an occasional basis. In the first place,
however, the bicycle is used for the purpose of recreation (76%).
In Europe 82% of the population believe that the issue of environmental
protection is of foremost importance, with as many as 64% stating that bicycles
1 DG TREN. European Commission – http://ec.europa.eu/transport/publications/statistics/statistics_en.htm.
2 Transport – activity results. 2007. GUS 2008.
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