Storage and Counters for Bikes

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About the city. Klaipeda wants to promote Cycling as a safe and affordable transport for its citizens. This is why bike storage systems have been made available in different parts of the city, protecting bikes from thieves and weather conditions.

Goal

The aim of the project is to promote and motivate local residents to use cycling as a free and daily alternative of transport and to make the city’s population more active and healthy.

Implementation period. The project implementation started in 2020.

Fact

Many citizens do not use bikes for working or going to school, because they are afraid of having their bikes stolen.
In 2017, more trips were made by car in Klaipeda than in any other mode (36%). The second by popularity modes of transport were walking (31%) and public transport (30%). The share of cyclists was only 3%. By 2030, Klaipeda hopes that the SUMP measures will bring the use of bicycles to 8% and reduce the use of cars to 24%.

Solutions

In different urban areas of Klaipeda, 4 Bicycle storage facilities were installed, which made Cycling available not only for tourists but also for local residents. Three of them are multi-storey facilities intended for public use, and the fourth installed in an apartment building for residents. In each case, the bikes will be stored in “lockers” controlled by mobile phones. In addition, the complex will include a small repair station with tools for conducting a “Bicycle first aid”.

Klaipeda also understands the importance of data collection to promote sustainable urban mobility. Two counters are installed in the city to track the number of bicycles passing by, ignoring motorized vehicles, and thus to measure cycling flows. This data will be publicly available.

Challenges

The population of Klaipeda, with about 150,000 inhabitants, is shrinking. Peripheral areas are growing, which can contribute to urban sprawl and therefore increase the distances between them in the long term.

Implementing the measures intended to foster multimodal transport and the accessibility of transport services in the more peripheral areas, along with the overall improvement of the city’s cycling infrastructure, will help Klaipeda cope with these problems and avoid increasing car use.