Happy biking
What, besides walking, is the healthiest and most environmental friendly means of transportation you can think of? The answer is of course cycling.
Using a bike to go to school, work, or to do groceries keeps people active and healthy and reduces the number of cars in the center of Utrecht. However, the large number of cyclists in Utrecht also causes frustration and inconvenience amongst the citizens of Utrecht. How can this be dealt with in an innovative, inspiring, and sustainable way?
Biking city Utrecht
Utrecht is the number one of the Netherlands when it comes to kilometres covered by bike each day. Also, more and more people start using their bike as their main means of transportation. Although that is great, this increasing number of cyclists is also a source of frustrations. To find solutions for these frustrations, the Utrecht innovation bureau Springlab started The Happy Biking Project.
The Happy Biking Project
For a week, several inhabitants of Utrecht filmed their bike rides with GoPro cameras attached to their handlebars. The clips were uploaded and people could vote which of the filmed situations frustrated them the most. The votes showed that the three biggest frustrations were delays at traffic lights, crowdedness, and detours. For one of these frustrations, having to wait at traffic lights, a solution has been developed into a system that has started a pilot in April 2017.
Written by Anne Winkelmolen