The use of bicycles is as old. asthe back of our palms.Bicycles are used all over the world for various reasons and in multi-dimentional ways.
Some use bicycles as leisure exercise,while some use it majorly as a means of transportation to farms,markets and places of work in their domain.
Globally, cycling lovers know how liberating it can be to o zip along a bike path, taking in the charm of as city without the downsides if crammed public transport off tragic jam.
As governments all over the world aare trying to cut carbon emission,more and more citis are encouraging people to ditch cars and making if easier for them to hop on bikes instead.
Nonetheless, which arc the most bike-friendly cities out there?
Majorly, they are in Europe,according to this year’s Global Bicycle Cities index.
“Digital Insurance company LUKO looked at 90 cities around the world and rankedthem based on six parameters: the percentage of bicycles users,weather conditions,crime and safety(such as accidents and bike theft rates),infrastructure, bike-sharing opportunities and special events such as “no cars” days
The final results are presented on a scale from 0-100,where the higher the score,the more bike-friendly the city .
European cities topped the list,mainly thanks to quality cycle paths and weather conditions that include a high number of “cyclable” days It should not be a surprise that there’s is no city in the US that made it to the top 10,or even the top 20,but some did feature among the 90,or the list : San Francisco,(ranked 39th),Portland(41), Seattle(50), Washington DC(53),Los Angeles(57), Boston (61), interestingly one spot ahead of London), New York (67),Chicago (71) , and Detroit (72)
Top TEN best cities in the world for cyclists.
1.Utrecht, Netherlands, 2.Munster,Germany, 3.Antwerp, Belgium,
4.Copenhagen,Denmark, 5, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 6.China ,Malomo,Sweden , 7,Hangzhang .8-,Bern Switzerland, 9.Bremen, Germany,10. Hannover, Germany.
Topping the list this year in the ranking is the Dutch city of Utrecht.
The city proudly boasts high scores for it’s cycling infrastructure and weather conditions,and more than half if it’s population (51percent)uses a bicycle in everyday life
Glaringly,by its absence,the highest ranking of a UK city in the list is Bristol which ranked. number 15 in the list with a score of 43,76,marked highly for low theft and good infrastructure.
The next is Brutishcentre is Edinburgh,ranking 54 out of 90,while France did not make it into the too 10,two cities narrowly missed out with Strasbourg ranking 11 and Bordeaux 12.
African countries are conspicuously not found on the list..which is a proof that bicycle and cycling are yet to be taken seriously as a means of transportation and relaxation in Africa.
It is of a higher hope that Africans will also know the value of bicycle and take a cue from the Western world to start hopping on bikes to ease traffic congestions in the continent.
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( Euronews)