A renewed cycling plan in Madrid

The City Council proposes to create new cycle paths until 2025

The board of directors of the Madrid City Council approved the revision of the 2008+ Cycling Mobility Plan, a document that defines the main guidelines for bike development in the Spanish capital. "The promotion of cycling mobility is an opportunity to transform the shape of the city and its public space" says the plan. "A coherent and secure network is a fundamental measure and efforts should be focused on this measure" it adds.

The initiative proposes to create about 430 kilometres of new cycle paths until 2025 (of which 32 already made last year). "The expansion of public space for pedestrians and bicycles is a strategic objective of the municipal council", explains a municipal spokesman.

During 2016 and 2017, the Plan has gone through several cycling forums, an advisory body that included meetings with associations and groups that contributed with their ideas and analysis. Many of them have joined the project. In October 2017 the Plan was subject to a public information period of 20 days and last week it was finally approved by the board of directors. Miguel Andrés, spokesman for Pedalibre, an association that has participated to several forums, believes that the result is very positive.

In addition, "the Plan emphasizes that in order to bring the majority of the population by bicycle, a segregated bicycle infrastructure is needed in the main axes," he says. The Plan also aims to reach 5% of the urban modal share for cycling in the near future: nowadays, the city counts about 60,000 and 80,000 daily bicycle users (less than 1% of the current modal share). 

Source: story first published by El País on January 2018