Best cities worldwide for bicycling

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Raybo
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Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Raybo »

Often, people post requests for rating cities on various criteria. I rarely see bicycling as an important factor. But, if this is something that you think is important (I do), you might check out the just released City Ratings at peopleforbikes.org.

Not surprisingly, 5 of the top 7 are in The Netherlands! Top in the US is Provincetown, Mass with 81 of 100 (population under 3,000!). Five of the top 9 in the US are in California. Sadly, San Francisco isn't one of these. SF comes in at #7 in Pacific US at 60.
No matter how long the hill, if you keep pedaling you'll eventually get up to the top.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by stan1 »

Raybo, very interesting, what is on your bucket list right now for your next bicycling trips?
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

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stan1 wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:13 pm Raybo, very interesting, what is on your bucket list right now for your next bicycling trips?
Before Covid shut everything down, I was training for a ride in Puglia (southeast Italy -- the heel), Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, and back to Italy. I'd still like to do that ride. When that looked bad, I roughed out a tour around Ireland. But, that will be wet, windy and somewhat repetitive green vistas.

In the interim, I ride my bike around the San Francisco area, which isn't all that bad, either!!
No matter how long the hill, if you keep pedaling you'll eventually get up to the top.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Jaymover »

Best cities for cycling tend to be densely populated and flat which encourages more cyclists which tends to lead to more bike lanes put in. Apparently LA has a big cycling scene now. All that road space that can be handed over to cyclists in the form of bike lanes.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by tigermilk »

I guess the survey is tilted towards commuting or path riding. As a road cyclist there are places I would never Want to ride. Paris? I have done a fair amount west of the city in the Yvelines area but would Want to avoid the congestion and stop and go of the urban setting. Amsterdam? Walked there, and if I was doing fitness riding it would not be my selection.
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Best locales worldwide for bicycling

Post by Bogle7 »

Not a city.
Vermont.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by UpperNwGuy »

The best cities for bicycling are mostly in Europe. I'm thinking of Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and a number of German cities.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by FoolStreet »

Raybo wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:08 pm Often, people post requests for rating cities on various criteria. I rarely see bicycling as an important factor. But, if this is something that you think is important (I do), you might check out the just released City Ratings at peopleforbikes.org.

Not surprisingly, 5 of the top 7 are in The Netherlands! Top in the US is Provincetown, Mass with 81 of 100 (population under 3,000!). Five of the top 9 in the US are in California. Sadly, San Francisco isn't one of these. SF comes in at #7 in Pacific US at 60.
Fascinating. But for recreational cycling, in the Bay Area, cycling is the new golf. I hope to do a cycling vacation someday soon, but for an Italy destination, I think I will need a sag wagon and do it as part of a group. I have seen some interesting programs from Trek.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Cycle »

If you stay in protected bike lanes, even a bad American cycling city can appear pretty good, like Minneapolis. I've learned to just avoid anything but low stress routes and that allows me to maintain my status as living. So study satellite images before biking anywhere in the US.

1) Groningen
2) Utrecht
3) delft
4) Amsterdam or Copenhagen

I've only biked in Copenhagen / Malmo / Galway in Europe, but I've researched cities a fair bit.

After walking, biking is my primary mode of transportation. Got a bucket ebike I can haul six people in.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Raybo »

I am surprised that Ljublijana (Capitol of Slovenia) is not on the list. I was pleasantly surprised at all the bike lanes in and around the city. Seemed as bike-friendly as either Copenhagen or Amsterdam.
No matter how long the hill, if you keep pedaling you'll eventually get up to the top.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by sandan »

tigermilk wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:48 pm I guess the survey is tilted towards commuting or path riding. As a road cyclist there are places I would never Want to ride. Paris? I have done a fair amount west of the city in the Yvelines area but would Want to avoid the congestion and stop and go of the urban setting. Amsterdam? Walked there, and if I was doing fitness riding it would not be my selection.
The list is interesting, but I agree. A lot of those places are undesirable even as a commuter. Way too many tourists. Portland is the only major city on the west coast I would feel comfortable commuting to work 12 months out of the year. Davis isn't exactly a city, but that seems very reasonable too. There are certainly other suburbs much better than Davis for commuting & endurance riding (due to the heat).
Last edited by sandan on Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by marcopolo »

Kind of interesting.

It seems really focused on City trails. Does not appear to included riding options accessible from the city.

Some cities have done a great job of being bike friendly, but I have never been a big fan of riding in cities proper. I would much rather get out of the city and explore more scenic rides. This rating does not seem to include that.

I looked up our closest "city" of Kailua (actually Kailua-Kona), HI. The rating was mediocre. They include a map of "low stress" and "high stress" riding areas. Oddly, the map does not even include the coastal road that is most widely used cycling route on the island. This stretch of road is used as the cycling portion of the Kona Ironman Triathlon, and is a quite spectacularly scenic ride.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by DoubleComma »

I always thought Portland, OR was known as a cycling city.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by freckles01 »

Raybo wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:08 pm Often, people post requests for rating cities on various criteria. I rarely see bicycling as an important factor. But, if this is something that you think is important (I do), you might check out the just released City Ratings at peopleforbikes.org.

Not surprisingly, 5 of the top 7 are in The Netherlands! Top in the US is Provincetown, Mass with 81 of 100 (population under 3,000!). Five of the top 9 in the US are in California. Sadly, San Francisco isn't one of these. SF comes in at #7 in Pacific US at 60.
We need safe bicycle infrastructure now!!! Its super important to me, too many times I've considered just giving up on Los Angeles (after encountering too many aggressive inattentive car drivers during walks/cycling) but I have searched high and low factoring COL, weather, cultural activities, ethnic diversity, my HMO healthcare service area and last but not least- safe protected cycling infrastructure and I have not found a place that I can move to despite LA not being so safe for cycling.

I"m surprised SF didn't make it higher on the list.

I would seriously love to move to the Netherlands but language learning is not my strong suit.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by freckles01 »

Jaymover wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:29 pm Best cities for cycling tend to be densely populated and flat which encourages more cyclists which tends to lead to more bike lanes put in. Apparently LA has a big cycling scene now. All that road space that can be handed over to cyclists in the form of bike lanes.
I live and commute by bike in LA, its not a big bicycle commuting scene. It should be, but it isn't.

There are a lot of lycra/recreational cyclists- tons of trails and hills/mountains to climb but we are seriously lacking in any cohesive continuous protected bike lanes (to make bicycling a valid mode of transportation accessible for all ages) in any part of LA to get to work/school/errands etc.

Even in downtown, where we have the most bike lanes- the few protected bike lanes are not continuous, mixed in with magic paint lanes that act as Uber loading and car parking and no special treatment at intersections (we have some leading pedestrian signals now but still have to beg (press dirty button) for it).

I had hoped (sent emails to all city officials) that during the major shutdowns during Covid, LA would convert all that open empty beautiful streets into pop up bike lanes and wider sidewalks but NO, not our Mayor (Garcetti) nor City Council District person's watch!

But YES!- all that road space should be handed over for Bus only lanes, protected bike lanes and car lanes. We can all share the rode, protected and equal.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by freckles01 »

marcopolo wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:52 pm Kind of interesting.

It seems really focused on City trails. Does not appear to included riding options accessible from the city.

Some cities have done a great job of being bike friendly, but I have never been a big fan of riding in cities proper. I would much rather get out of the city and explore more scenic rides. This rating does not seem to include that.

I looked up our closest "city" of Kailua (actually Kailua-Kona), HI. The rating was mediocre. They include a map of "low stress" and "high stress" riding areas. Oddly, the map does not even include the coastal road that is most widely used cycling route on the island. This stretch of road is used as the cycling portion of the Kona Ironman Triathlon, and is a quite spectacularly scenic ride.
I think the survey is focused on people who live and bike as a mode of transportation within and around their city/town- not necessarily for exercise/recreation. So from that angle, protected bike lanes/intersections, dynamic light signalling all throughout the city is super important so that bicycle as a mode of transportation is safe and accessible for all ages and ability ( ie safe for grade school kids to bike to school- imagine the fresh air around the school without the miles long drop off that's so common now).

Its funny (not actually), people who use a vehicle as their main mode of transportation never have to consider if there is a direct continuous safe path to drive on to get from point A to B. But those who cannot or choose not to drive (age/$$/ability...) their mode of transportation is just a valid and as important to have a direct safe continuous path to get to point A to B too. We shouldn't have high and low stress roads, they should all be low stress roads with built in safety to make it so.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by chw »

Raybo, I would consider the source of the ratings somewhat flawed if it rates Provincetown the most best city in the US for biking. I live about 30 minutes from Provincetown, and have biked around its streets in the off season many times- it’s a nice area to bike around, especially the dune areas which have dedicated paths through them. I wouldn’t begin trying to do so during the summer months, as the streets are extremely narrow (many large SUVs can barely fit down them), and the population explodes 4-5 fold during June-August. Lastly, P-Town is more of a town than a city.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by sunnywindy »

chw wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:43 am Raybo, I would consider the source of the ratings somewhat flawed if it rates Provincetown the most best city in the US for biking. I live about 30 minutes from Provincetown, and have biked around its streets in the off season many times- it’s a nice area to bike around, especially the dune areas which have dedicated paths through them. I wouldn’t begin trying to do so during the summer months, as the streets are extremely narrow (many large SUVs can barely fit down them), and the population explodes 4-5 fold during June-August. Lastly, P-Town is more of a town than a city.
I agree completely. Provincetown is at the end of the Cape Cod peninsula - it's almost like an island. This is a case where it scored highly so they had to report the results that way, but to compare it to an extremely complex city of over 1,000,000 (Amsterdam) is a bit far-fetched.

I don't want to ding People for Bikes too much as they are a good organization (and despite my name being sunnywindy with a sailboat picture, I'm actually more of a bike-tourer than a sailor and my interests are for more people to ride bikes).
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

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chw wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:43 am Raybo, I would consider the source of the ratings somewhat flawed if it rates Provincetown the most best city in the US for biking. I live about 30 minutes from Provincetown, and have biked around its streets in the off season many times- it’s a nice area to bike around, especially the dune areas which have dedicated paths through them. I wouldn’t begin trying to do so during the summer months, as the streets are extremely narrow (many large SUVs can barely fit down them), and the population explodes 4-5 fold during June-August. Lastly, P-Town is more of a town than a city.
Next, you're going to tell me that the SWR isn't 4% :happy !

It does seem odd to compare a tiny hamlet no an island to large, complex, and older cities. But, you can change the parameters of the comparison to make it more "apples to apples." In truth, there is no way to compare biking safety or experience from one place to another. It is so dependent on time, traffic, weather, and many other factors.

That said, I think the comparison of, say, San Francisco to Amsterdam is reasonable depending on the criteria used. But, even that comparison is flawed as there are no canals in San Francisco and no hills in Amsterdam. Nonetheless, I think it is an interesting exercise for people looking to move to a more "bike friendly" town.
No matter how long the hill, if you keep pedaling you'll eventually get up to the top.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by chw »

Raybo wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 5:44 pm
chw wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:43 am Raybo, I would consider the source of the ratings somewhat flawed if it rates Provincetown the most best city in the US for biking. I live about 30 minutes from Provincetown, and have biked around its streets in the off season many times- it’s a nice area to bike around, especially the dune areas which have dedicated paths through them. I wouldn’t begin trying to do so during the summer months, as the streets are extremely narrow (many large SUVs can barely fit down them), and the population explodes 4-5 fold during June-August. Lastly, P-Town is more of a town than a city.
Next, you're going to tell me that the SWR isn't 4% :happy !

It does seem odd to compare a tiny hamlet no an island to large, complex, and older cities. But, you can change the parameters of the comparison to make it more "apples to apples." In truth, there is no way to compare biking safety or experience from one place to another. It is so dependent on time, traffic, weather, and many other factors.

That said, I think the comparison of, say, San Francisco to Amsterdam is reasonable depending on the criteria used. But, even that comparison is flawed as there are no canals in San Francisco and no hills in Amsterdam. Nonetheless, I think it is an interesting exercise for people looking to move to a more "bike friendly" town.
Lol. I promise to not intro SWR into this thread 😎. I poked around the linked website a bit, and it seems that the website is a work in progress, but with good intentions. 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️. I was surprised to see Boston score somewhat in the middle of the pack. They’ve made tremendous strides to introduce dedicated bike lanes throughout the city, and they were one of the the first cities to introduce a bike share program. I surmise it may have to do with poor road conditions in winter.

I live vicariously thru the journals of your various rides here on BH. I tend to stick mostly to the back roads and paths of Cape Cod.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Raybo »

chw wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:01 pm I live vicariously thru the journals of your various rides here on BH.
These days, I do too!
No matter how long the hill, if you keep pedaling you'll eventually get up to the top.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Jaymover »

freckles01 wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:14 am
Jaymover wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:29 pm Best cities for cycling tend to be densely populated and flat which encourages more cyclists which tends to lead to more bike lanes put in. Apparently LA has a big cycling scene now. All that road space that can be handed over to cyclists in the form of bike lanes.
I live and commute by bike in LA, its not a big bicycle commuting scene. It should be, but it isn't.

There are a lot of lycra/recreational cyclists- tons of trails and hills/mountains to climb but we are seriously lacking in any cohesive continuous protected bike lanes (to make bicycling a valid mode of transportation accessible for all ages) in any part of LA to get to work/school/errands etc.

Even in downtown, where we have the most bike lanes- the few protected bike lanes are not continuous, mixed in with magic paint lanes that act as Uber loading and car parking and no special treatment at intersections (we have some leading pedestrian signals now but still have to beg (press dirty button) for it).

I had hoped (sent emails to all city officials) that during the major shutdowns during Covid, LA would convert all that open empty beautiful streets into pop up bike lanes and wider sidewalks but NO, not our Mayor (Garcetti) nor City Council District person's watch!

But YES!- all that road space should be handed over for Bus only lanes, protected bike lanes and car lanes. We can all share the rode, protected and equal.
Probably depends where you live in LA. There is hope in LA because there is so much space available for potential bike lanes. It is flat and not twisty and hilly like SF for instance and people are often broke because of HCOL and so biking is a way to keep living costs down. The weather is generally good too unlike Amsterdam where it rains all the time. The car lobby is the enemy and the most powerful people/decision makers drive or are driven everywhere.

I live in Sydney which is a bit like LA, big dirty roads everywhere and cars are birth rights. Things have been slowly improving though.

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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

UpperNwGuy wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:53 pm The best cities for bicycling are mostly in Europe. I'm thinking of Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and a number of German cities.
Braunschweig in Germany. Muenster too I think.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by Tribonian »

I was shocked Sacramento was rated so poorly. It is one of the bike-friendliest places I know.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by DarkNyte »

I live in the LA area and in theory it should be a great place to commute by bicycle. In reality it's too dangerous because there are too many distracted drivers, drivers that don't want to share the road, drivers that honk at you for riding on the road because they think you should be on the sidewalk. I would never consider commuting by bicycle in LA unless it's a really short commute that doesn't involve riding on any major roads.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by bwheeler »

Raybo wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:04 pm
chw wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:01 pm I live vicariously thru the journals of your various rides here on BH.
These days, I do too!
Vienna is also very nice. Hope to see you over here again some time!
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by mrb09 »

I'm in Eugene, Oregon, and it didn't get a great rating. But I think there's part of the city that is really good -- I can ride to downtown with a combination of bike lanes, protected bike lanes, bike paths and very low traffic streets, it is (too me) very low stress. But if you're outside that core, it is really hit or miss. I'm guessing there a lot of cities like that, mixed depending on what part of the city you're in.
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Re: Best cities worldwide for bicycling

Post by WhyNotUs »

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of biking experiences in Paris and Seville. For me, both cities were much easier to explore on bike than expected.
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