Extension of the bike lane network

One of the challenges identified by the Innovators Alliance, created by VoxPop, was to make park-and-ride facilities more appealing, to identify bicycle parking needs in the city and to assess the suitability of the cycling network, overall improving significantly the conditions of the cycling community through:

• The evaluation of the adequacy of the cycle network by creating paths connecting trips Origins and Destinations  and identifying the missing links for the current demand.
• The identification to expand the current BiciPark service establishing an attractiveness index based on land use and socio-demographic characteristics.  

This evaluation aimed at analysing the adequacy of the current cycling network to identify:

• Sections of the road network (without a cycle path) where there is significant cycling demand;
• The most critical missing links in the sense of cycle network infrastructure fragmentation/
• Cycle paths with particularly low demand, although the volume of bicycle traffic recorded on the surrounding roads is significant;

The above network elements are the best candidates to provide new or improve existing cycle paths. To do so, it was needed to gather relevant data of active and micromobility users, since the only available data was that from GIRA, from where data was collected from two consecutive business days and two weekends (to understand to what extent the dynamics of use of cycle paths were different).

In this sense, the data was biased towards the area of influence of the GIRA network. Therefore, an extrapolation of the volume of vehicles was made based on the micromobility usres counted within the study conducted by Instituto Superior Técnico for the Municipal Mobility Directorate of Lisbon City Council. Additionally, data from the micromobility operator LIME was used to validate the extrapolation results.

With regards to the needs for parking places, co-creation sessions involving several EMEL and Lisbon City Hall team members (including the City Changer Cargo Bike team) were held and validated with bicycle users to create a canvas dedicated to identifying the following:

• Risks and challenges: It would be important to be able to monitor parking time and entry and exit times to avoid abusive use (e.g. more than one bicycle per subscription, deposit).
• Value proposition: provide a secure environment to the bike users to increase their number.
• Evaluation metrics: number of subscriptions, number of consecutive (6 months) subscriptions and number of withdrawals.
• Analytical workflow: measure coverage of existing parking places and identify places with 24/7 surveillance systems (e.g. embassies); analysis of accessibility to EMEL parking places and public buildings, multi-criteria analysis to identify locations on public roads to install long-term parking based on Population Density, Availability of parking space or garage, Cycling Network, BiciParks, Squadrons and Manifest Interest (Cycling City).
• Data: parking places locations (BiciParks + other secure parking lots, EMEL car parks + others, Accommodations with parking space or garage, shopping malls with parking), population data, Current cycle network, locations of interest (Universities, Business districts, Metro and Train Stations…), secure locations (Embassy Locations, Police Stations, Ministries and Courts, Municipal buildings), network characteristics (Slope, Intermodal nodes)
• Analysis: Usage monitoring and multicriteria analysis criteria prioritization workshop.

As a result of the study carried-out to implement the new service BiciPark, 5 golden design principles for medium/long term parking were proposed:

• Intrusion-resistant: Bicycle parking should be in an enclosed space and feature a waterproof cover to protect any objects from the elements (sun, rain, wind) and bad weather. The material used should not be completely opaque so that users can see movements outside, while the structure should not be impervious to minimise the feeling of being in a closed space.
• Installed in safe places: A bicycle parking facility should be located where there is surveillance, and the surrounding area should provide a feeling of safety. The main access(es) to the parking facility should be well lit, with movement, and clean.
• Controlled accesses: In order to access the bicycle parking area, users must be registered. The bicycle parking facility should feature an automatic lock system when it is not used.
• Individual racks: Bicycles should be parked in individual racks made from cut-resistant material and a model that ensures that the front wheel does not turn on its own. In the case of community parking facilities, racks should be fixed to the floor (or wall) and have at least one lock point where a “U” or “D”-type padlock can be used.
• Interiors that also have users in mind: The structure should be at floor level, with no obstacles to facilitate the movement of bicycles within these areas. The indoor passageways should be spacious to make it easier to carry the bicycle by hand without having to stop the movement of the bicycle (i.e., having to lift the bicycle to change direction). The door should be a (one-leaf) side jamb or sliding door wide enough to allow a person holding and wheeling their bicycle to walk through it comfortably.