Federica Villa

Interview with Diego Vezza, President of the Consulta della Mobilità ciclistica e della Moderazione del Traffico di Torino.

In general, what are the problems faced by those who wish to move by bicycle within the intermodal system of urban mobility in Turin?

Consistency, comfort and safety: these are some basic concepts that are unfortunately often lacking when travelling by bicycle, especially in urban centres. The cycling infrastructure in major Italian cities is growing fast, but not yet mature. Narrow cycle lanes, tight curves, zigzags around dehors, broken paths in the middle of nowhere: it is always a downward compromise, to please no one, especially the electorate. But the comparison with other European cities, which for years now have made agile and active mobility one of the cornerstones of the urban transport system, is pitiless. This on the surface.
When the need arises to move vertically from one elevation to another, with one’s bicycle in tow (e.g. at railway stations, in the presence of subways to get to the platform or cycle stations that are not at street level, or in city centres to cross railways or busy roads) the situation becomes even more complicated.

On this page, examples of bicycle transport integration around the world (Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Fukuoka, Japan).

In these cases, the experience of those who choose the bicycle comes close to the difficulties of other weak users, perhaps the weakest of all: people with reduced mobility, who get around with a wheelchair. Steps to negotiate, inaccessible areas, tiny lifts, spaces that are not adequate for the proper movement of the vehicle. There is therefore a lack of adequate design for the most basic needs of people travelling by bicycle.

In particular, what are the problems of bike-vertical transport interaction (e.g. lifts and escalators)?

European experiences tell us that the transport of one’s own bicycle on trains is of great importance in daily travel, for commuting to one’s place of study and/or work, but above all it plays a fundamental role in the development of cycle tourism, a sector that brings with it great potential for growth and enhancement of the territory. For the ‘bike+train’ system to work efficiently, however, certain dedicated and indispensable infrastructures are needed. In the Italian panorama, ‘bike+train’ integration is recognised by Law, 11/01/2018, no. 2 (G.U. 31/01/2018), ‘Provisions for the development of bicycle mobility’ and by the current ‘General Plan for Cycling Mobility’ (G.U. 12/10/2022): every local administration should no longer shy away from the construction of bicycle parking areas (velostazioni) at all railway stations, also thinking of convenient accessibility to the platform and then to the train for those who decide to continue their journey with a bicycle in tow.

But what is the Italian context? Many existing staircases have not been retrofitted for bicycle passage. Sometimes you see awkward channels at the sides, either too narrow or too close to the wall, forcing a great deal of effort in holding the bicycle, often equipped with panniers, at an uncomfortable angle. Or one encounters lifts – assuming they work – that are too narrow, or too short, forcing one to wheelie the bike on the rear wheel, with poor balance.
If we really want to make intermodality attractive, the service must be genuinely accessible: the entire route, from entering the station to boarding the train, must also be completely bikeable.
This basically means ensuring that routes in stations are properly signposted and that architectural barriers that are an obstacle for bicycles are eliminated.
This means implementing solutions to overcome the differences in height encountered on the route: ramps, channels along stairs, appropriately sized lifts, and moving walkways for flush access to trains.
Current legislation on architectural barriers sets standards for people with disabilities, but does not provide similar standards for the transport of accompanying bicycles. Getting around with a touring bicycle with luggage bags, between one level of a station and another, can be very difficult if not impossible if adequate solutions are lacking; especially with the increasingly popular but heavier e-bikes. See in this regard the document ‘Bicycles and architectural barriers, how to overcome height differences’ published by the Centro Studi FIAB in January 2023.

Are there virtuous examples, in Italy or around the world, from which designers can take inspiration?

For best practices to inspire us, we only have to look outside our national borders, where the transformation started several decades ago and now the results are extraordinary, for all to see. The Netherlands in primis. Cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, have major bicycle parking facilities inside railway stations. Futuristic, modern, attractive projects. Convenient access, height differences that can be easily overcome thanks to convenient ramps and moving walkways, sometimes designed as a true urban landmark, with a considerable economic investment. This is the best solution, with no waiting and limited space. Germany and Switzerland also have exceptional cases of station accessibility. Even in Japan, in cities like Fukuoka, there are numerous cases of lifts that are perfectly accessible to bicycles.

Generally speaking, special attention should be given to touring bicycles loaded with luggage: they require lifts of an adequate size to hold a bicycle horizontally, i.e. with both wheels resting on the ground. For an XXL touring bicycle, the minimum recommended size of the interior compartment of a lift would be 2.0 m x 1.0 m (for transporting one bicycle at a time). A more square plan form is acceptable, provided that the diagonal is at least 2.0 m.
Today, however, we often find ourselves obliged to place the bicycle vertically, in potentially dangerous and poorly balanced positions.
The regulations on architectural barriers dictate the minimum dimensions of lifts. Ministerial Decree No. 236 of 14 June 1989 establishes the minimum dimensions in new, non-residential buildings: car 1.4 m deep and 1.1 m wide. These dimensions allow almost all bicycles to be transported, diagonally, with the front wheel steered and the side panniers at the rear. However, it must be borne in mind that these are minimum dimensions, not maximum dimensions. Larger dimensions can therefore be adopted if appropriate. Therefore, new lifts should be sized to accommodate bicycles easily enough, without the need for awkward manoeuvring.

Some figures to understand how many people use bicycles today to get around and potentially how many could be if the system were adapted to switch from one means to another.

In the Netherlands, 45% of train users arrive at the station by bicycle, in France this percentage drops to 6%. In Italy we don’t get to 2%. So there is great potential to be developed, a latent demand to be intercepted. What is needed is for local administrations to give citizens a new choice, a choice that is currently severely limited. In the Netherlands, large bicycle parking spaces have been built in railway stations, with capacities of thousands of spaces each (in Utrecht the peak is reached with over 12,000 bicycle spaces. As a comparison, in Turin there is only one velostation, with 100 spaces.