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Synopsis

The Municipality of Comines-Warneton (population of 17,000) has been active in developing a policy aimed at raising public awareness of cycle use and encouraging the local population to travel by bike by adopting the following measures:

• development of a safe, comfortable and coherent network of cycle routes by introducing a limited one-way system (except for cyclists);
• provision of secure bicycle parks at the SNCB railway station, bus stops and other locations in the town centre;
• development of a network of tourist cycle routes;
• raising schoolchildren's awareness of travelling by bike.

School bicycle services were organised on the occasion of the 2002 European Mobility Week. These consisted in proposing children attending primary schools to integrate a "cycling bus" to go to school for the duration of the mobility week. Cycling buses were taken in hand by voluntary parents or by out-of-school patrols. Routes were determined according to the number of children involved and their place of residence (a survey has to be carried out beforehand). The awareness-raising campaign on sustainable modes of transport such as cycling is a good example of the measures that have been introduced by the municipality to implement its transport policy and achieve its objectives of improving road safety and promoting a shift towards soft modes of transport. It follows up the initiatives taken to make cycle routes more coherent and contributes to promoting the existing network.

Target groups: children
Fields: cycling - responsible car use / mobility plans

This case study is one of 175 projects from the Smile Project Local Experiences Database listed on this website.