The bicycle is the primary means of transport for more than 35m Europeans, according to a European Union survey of the 27 countries that make up the trading block.
The car is unsurprisingly the most popular form of transport with 53% using this mode of transport. The 35m Europeans that cycle makes up 7% of the total population of those 27 countries.
Cycling to the fore
A third of respondents in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and unsurprisingly the Netherlands (32%-34%) said that they mainly got around on a daily basis by walking or cycling. In the Netherlands, interviewees who used a bicycle as their main means of transport largely outnumbered those who said that they usually walked (31% “cycling” vs. 3% “walking). In the other four countries, most respondents said that they usually walked (for example, Latvia: 25%” walking” vs. 8% “cycling”).
Cycling also takes a large share of the non motorized individual transport in Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Germany. The ratio in Hungary was 19% cycling versus 12% walking, in Sweden 17% cycling versus 11% walking, in Denmark 19% cycling versus 4% walking, Germany 13% cycling versus 7% walking and Belgium 13% cycling versus 5% walking.
The average for the European Union as a whole was 7% cycling versus 13% walking.
Car over public transport
The European Union survey looked at various transport policy issues and asked EU citizens for their views on why car users did not use public transport and asked for ideas that could encourage car users to consider reducing the amount they use their car.
A large majority (71%) of car users felt that public transport was not as convenient as a car, a similar proportion (72%) said that a lack of connections was a problem, about two-thirds (64%) mentioned a low frequency of services and 54% said they did not use public transport because it was not reliable.
Half (49%) of car users said public transport was too expensive and a similar proportion (49%) stressed a lack of information about schedules. Security concerns were considered as an important reason not to use public transport by 40% of car users.
Survey sample
The survey obtained interviews predominantly through fixed-line telephone, with nationally representative samples of EU citizens (aged 15 and older) living in the 27 Member States. The target sample size in most countries was 1,000 interviews, but in Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta the sample size was 500 interviews. In total, 25,570 interviews were conducted by Gallup’s network of fieldwork organizations from October 15 to October 19, 2010.
To see the full survey report, click here.
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