62% of cyclists feel vulnerable circulating in Barcelona and its metropolitan area, according to the fifth RACC Barometer on cyclist mobility in the Catalan capital and its accesses, published this Tuesday.
The study, for which 800 surveys of cyclists and 18,500 observations of bicycles and personal mobility vehicles (VMP) have been carried out, confirms that one of the situations that causes the greatest perception of risk for cyclists is finding stopped, parked or circulating vehicles on bike lanes, something that 93% of those surveyed have experienced.
The number of bicycles and scooters that circulate on the bike lanes observed in the study has increased by 15% compared to 2022, and the only point where the volume has decreased is the Bicivía -network of metropolitan cycling routes- in Santa Coloma de Gramanet.
The Barcelona cycling network, which has 14 accesses to the city from the metropolitan area, has added 59 kilometers in the last year -273 km in 2022 compared to 332 km this year-, but “50% of those surveyed do not know part of the network inaugurated in 2022”.
In addition, nine out of ten users state that they do not have a cyclable network throughout their usual route in order to move continuously and safely.
The safety of the cycling network is rated 5.4 out of 10 by users, who “respect the speed limit when driving on the streets of 30 km/h in Barcelona” although “most exceed the permitted speed of 10 km/ h on shared walks, single platforms and road bike lanes”.
In total, last year there were a total of 759 cyclist accidents in Barcelona that caused 678 victims -83% cyclists and 17% pedestrians-, 668 with minor injuries, 10 with serious injuries and none of them fatal.
Accidents involving cyclists with the involvement of third parties represented 48% of the total in 2022 and the third party most frequently involved -26%- are VMP -scooters, wheels, ‘segways’…-.
34% of the cyclists surveyed admit that they are not aware of the regulations for cycling in Barcelona and the director of the RACC, Josep Mateu, has admitted that this ignorance is “worrying”.
Mateu, in charge of presenting the barometer together with the director of the RACC mobility area, Cristian Bardají, is committed to promoting measures such as a specific license, insurance or chassis numbers or license plates because “there should be a minimum knowledge of traffic regulations” by part of the bike lane users.
For the first time, the RACC has included the level of service on bike lanes in the barometer, which “indicates the fluidity of traffic at a point according to the speed of the vehicles, the interruptions produced and the comfort of circulation”.
The average level of service is 2.9 points out of 4 and shows that “during peak hours, there are points on the bike lanes with many conflicts and cyclists must reduce the speed at which they circulate”. In this sense, they recommend “widening the saturated lanes and rethinking those that are empty.”
