Bicycle movement in Poland

The history and strategies of
the cycling movement in Poland

Marcin Hyła, www.miastadlarowerow.pl
VeloForum, 16 October, 2010
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History and strategies for cycling

Let me introduce myself...


...my four bicycles & a trailer


A few words on myself
Have been involved in cycling advocacy
in Poland since 1992
Work with Cities for Bicycle network
Did a TV job, including cycling promotion series
Freelance consultant with local governments,
Ministry of Infrastructure and other
Work part time at National Road Directorate
(www.GDDKiA.gov.pl) - not representing it here!


Why the bicycle, after all?
Zero emission vehicle – runs on what you eat
Does not make noise and occupies little space
Door-to-door transportation
Most energy efficient device ever built by
man: 100W is enough for man to walk 4 kph,
the same 100W is enough to cycle 16 kph – 4
times faster!


In the same time, a cyclist has
access to destinations scattered
across area 16 times larger
than a pedestrian can reach.


How revolutions happen
„Prophets” (develop and spread the idea)
Innovators (live up to the „prophecy”: personal
choice, action and lifestyle) – the few
Early adopters (trendsetters, they are crucial
and bring the real change) – the more
numerous
Early majority – you know you have won :-)
… and then (almost) everyone else follows


Demographics
Look at the age – innovators are usually
young, so are early adopters
The change is real when women are
represented proportionally
In cycling societies (NL, DK, D) women are
slight majority of cyclists
In non-cycling societies, cyclists are
predominantly male


Idea behind our revolution
Cycling is for all and everyone – not just for the
fit, the fitness freaks and sportsmen/women
What we do is for the potential majority, not
the elite
Reality check: cyclists in rich countries are the
middle and upper class, not lower class :-)
At the innovators stage if you personally don't
cycle, you can't prove it is real


Approaches
Grass root approach: independent of
government (bottom up)
Top – down aprroach: government decides,
people must follow
Approach „from within”: middle level – local
governments, consultancies, businesses lead
the change


Welcome to Poland!


Cycling movement in Poland
First cycle tracks – pre-WWII Poznan and
stalinist Krakow (Nowa Huta district, 1950's) –
the latter never used by cyclists
Theoretical, academic discussion on cycling in
cities
Polish Ecological Club (Friends of the Earth
Poland): first cycling advocacy in 1990
First „new” cycle infrastructure in 1990's


1993 – cycling revolution begins


1994 – car bashing in Krakow


1993 – first cycle track opening


1993 – cycling in snow


Cycling grass roots in Poland
Mostly emerging from environmental
movement in early 1990's
Often connected to alternative groups
(anarchists, punks etc.)
In early 1990's, the cycling movement went
against the tide: everyone was buying cars,
and wanted to drive them!
In early 1990's, Mountain Bicycle created new
market and renewed the image of cycling in
non-cycling countries, including Poland


Cycling movement in Poland in the 1990's
Environmental movement was funded by EU
grants and supported by Dutch organizations
(study visits, networking projects)
Know-how transfer, organizational buildup
In 1995, Cities for Bicycles (Miasta dla
rowerów) network was started – a coalition of
local grass root groups and organizations
Lobbying locally for cycling infrastructure and
public education and networking nationwide


1990's – lost decade?
Co-operation with local authorities was very
difficult despite official declarations
Extremely poor design of the (few) cycling
facilities
Extreme growth in motorized traffic, extreme
decrease in road safety, extreme deterioration
of road network and... evident growth of cycling
Networking, research (VeloCity conferences of
ECF) and growing frustration of cycling NGO


Gdańsk: A New Hope
While no Poland's city could boast any real
cycling infrastructure, Gdańsk was different
Vibrant NGO community organized massive
bicycle rides or demonstrations
NGO's were heard, and they demanded quality
management first: design standards for cycling
infrastructure, then investment
Gdańsk was the first city to try to apply for large
EU grants for cycling infrastructure


Cycling demo in Gdańsk


Gdańsk cycling infrastructure project
Co-financed by Global Environment Facility
(GEF), 1 million US dollars (additional 2 million
from the municipality)
Introduced quality management practices
Gave strong voice to the NGO partners
The project was a breaktrough: model
infrastructural solutions were implemented, it
showed something positive is possible in
Poland. WOW!


Other cities
Growing Critical Mass movement – monthly
rides (last Friday of each month) across Poland
Warsaw Critical Mass broken by police in
2003, almost 100 people arrested. Result: at the
next CM more than 1000 people showed up!
Now Warsaw CM has 1-2 thousand riders
regularly, and more in late spring
Gdańsk experience replicated to some extend
in other cities


Critical Mass in Warsaw


Gdańsk lessons:
Public participation: bicycle user groups must
be heard and there must be institutional co-
operation platform (a Task Force or similar)
Quality Management: bylaws such as Design
Standards, binding to all municipal agencies
Gdańsk project was tangible: you could take
pictures, interview cyclists and show it to
others
Meticulous planning: where to invest money
first


Where to invest money
Bottleneck analysis: where cyclists have
trouble now (multilane fast roads with no
alternative for cyclists)
Journey sources and destinations matrix:
follow the current behaviour of users of other
means of transport (public transport, cars)
Avoid steep hills, follow rivers and railways
(denivelation; see CROW five requirements)


Journey matrix in Gdańsk


GEF project cycle tracks


Minimalist approach (alternative)
New investment must not hamper cycling, eg.
cut parts of a city from each other (provide
tunnels or bridges for pedestrians and cyclists)
Possibly, new roads (or at least bridges,
viaducts etc.) must have cycling facilities –
avoid investing in a serious long-time obstacle
to cycling!
Introduce traffic – free zones or limited access
zones, open to cycling (very low direct costs)


Pre-conditions for success:
Vibrant NGO and/or grass root community
Universities, artists, boheme, open
mindedness (innovators, early adopters!)
Flat city (at least downtown), compact city
City that has significant impact on national
scale: in Poland Gdańsk is famous for the
Solidarity movement, Krakow was once capital,
Wrocław has strong brand etc.
Bicycle messenger potential: Big Business


Krakow: artists' hangout


Shopping centre in Krakow


Cities for Bicycles in a nutshell
We are Bicycle Users' Group. We represent
cyclists (ourselves): fight for our rights
We do not have a broader agenda – we are
single issue organization, focused just on
cycling (commuting, touring and not sport)
We can have coalitions with public transport,
environment, pedestrian or other groups but
sometimes our goals may be different
We are non-partisan (no political party affiliation)


What do we do now?
We discovered that many problems reported
by local groups are the same across Poland,
and the reason is the law and lack of
knowledge on part of traffic engineers.
We found that Highway Code does not conform
to Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which is
a serious constitutional problem
We developed proposals for changing the laws
and, well, nobody wanted to talk to us

History and strategies for 2008
ROWEROWA POLSKA cycling

Cyclist should have priority here

History and strategies for 2008
ROWEROWA POLSKA cycling

Vienna Convention vs. Highway Code


Political games
In 2007, there appeared some political interest
in the cycling agenda (early adopters stage!)
All Party Cycling Group was formed in the
Parliament with more than 40 MP's and Ministry
of Infrastructure started talking with us (2008)
Now, the new Highway Code is proceeded by
the Parliament and will give cyclists more rights
and legal protection
The agenda is to put cycling in the political
mainstream, much like in the UK (Boris Johnson)


Pro-cycling Highway code
Technicalities (pedelecs, rikshaws, cycle track,
cycle lane, advanced stop line etc.)
Cyclists riding straight ahead always have
priority over vehicles turning off (Vienna
Convention) unles road signs show otherwise
Cyclists can ride two or more abreast and
overtake on the right
Cyclists can ride in the middle of lane in junctions
Studded tyres and children trailers allowed


Pro-cycling Highway code - discussion
Turning left is the most dangerous and
difficult manouvre for cyclist in traffic: cyclist
must weave through much faster motorized
traffic acros lanes
Many countries and Vienna Convention allow
cyclist in such case to ride the junction straight
ahead, stop in the junction on the right as if
they arrived from the right, yield to traffic and
only then go their way
Ministry does not like it (yet).


Changing the law is not panaceum
Law is a tool and needs to be enforced
We need new training schemes for new drivers
We need permanent education (media
campaigns) for those with driving permit
We need to change other laws, too
We need to educate planners, road engineers,
police, decisionmakers
We can't educate against the law


And remember: this is our vision!

www.miastadlarowerow.pl
cinek@rowery.org.pl

Bicycle movement in Poland

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