The bike is the quickest means of transport to go to a city centre from a peripheral town, during rush hour. The evidence comes from the results of a test conducted by eight teams from the cycling organisation, Fietsersbond, on Tuesday morning in Brussels, Gent and Antwerpen. The bike’s advantage over public transport varies from anything from 5 to 30 minutes. The car arrived on average 10 to 15 minutes later than the bike.
The various teams left from the peripheral areas of Gent (Wetteren, Melle and Destelbergen) Brussels (Tervueren, Jezus-Eik and Asse) and Antwerpen (Boechout and Aartselaar) to respectively get to the Gent Stadhuis, the Place de la Bourse in Brussels and the Grote Markt in Antwerpen.
The cycling organization had already carried out such an investigation last October on the home to work journey in the Brussels area. It had been shown that the bike was quicker for short runs (up to 5 kilometres) and average distances (up to 15 kilometres).
During the Wetteren to the centre of Gent journey (18 kilometres), the bike also proved to be quicker. The car arrived 14 minutes later.
For this reason, Fietsersbond stresses the need to invest in safe cycle tracks, between peripheral towns and major urban centres.
The Brussels Times
