In winter, people cycle
Traffic
Bicycle traffic in Innsbruck has increased significantly this winter. The two automatic counting points on the busiest cycle paths show that almost a third more cyclists than in the previous year were on the road in the months.
The bike has established itself as an integral part of urban mobility. On the Herzog-Otto-Ufer near the Inn Bridge, 133,789 bicycle trips were counted in the first quarter of 2022, 31 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. At the counting point at the Sillpark, there were 151,530 trips, 28 percent more than in the previous year. According to a representative IMAD survey, 40 percent of Innsbruck’s population ride their bikes every day or almost every day in summer, and 15 percent in winter.
Pleasing upward trend
The city of Innsbruck is partially pleased with this upward trend, since the increase in cycling in winter is part of the so-called “Cycling 2030” master plan.
“In summer, the bicycle is already the number one means of transport for the people of Innsbruck, who like to travel in an environmentally friendly and healthy way. The fact that the numbers are now also clearly pointing upwards in winter is a very good sign,” emphasizes Uschi Schwarzl (Greens), city councilor responsible for mobility.
Significantly more on the road with rental bikes
The “Stadtrad” rental system of the Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe (IVB) is also becoming more popular. “The usage figures show that the city bike is increasingly developing as an integral part of urban mobility,” says IVB project manager Thomas Hillebrand. In the months of January, February and March, twice as many IVB city bikes were rented as in 2021. In total there are 33,335 rental transactions. In the same period of the previous year, city bikes were only rented 14,763 times.