(Kinda) happy bicycle - www.giroe.it

The snapshot of Italy riding a bike is authored by Osservatorio Focus2R – a research that was promoted by Confindustria ANCMA (Bicycle and Motorcycles Accessories National Association) with Legambiente and issued by the consulting company Ambiente Italia. Today, it was presented in Milan.
For six years the survey has provided the most complete and up-to-date overview of policies introduced by Italian provincial capitals for urban cyclists (and motorcyclists). In this edition it focuses on mobility in the Covid era. The monitoring outcomes are the result of a questionnaire addressed to 106 municipalities in 2020, to which 94 local governments responded. The report makes available a significant pool of information on cycle paths, sharing mobility, dedicated parking spaces and many other aspects related to two-wheel mobility in urban centres provided directly by local governments.
There is good news from the bicycle world in terms of cycle paths. 31 municipalities have created a total of 224.5 km of new cycle paths: most of the local authorities surveyed have introduced more than 2 km of cycle paths, while 7 introduced more than 10 km. Record in Milan: +65.5 km. The average availabilitỳ of cycle lanes, cycle paths and 20 and 30 kph speed zones also increased in 2020 and reached 9.5 equivalent metres per inhabitant (+25% compared to 2015, the first year of Focus2R survey). The Top 5 cities for cycling infrastructure is as follows: Reggio Emilia, Cuneo, Cesena, Ravenna and Cosenza.

The number of municipalities where bicycles are allowed on public transport is also growing (52%), a slight increase compared to 2019 and a clear rise from 31% in 2015.
On the other hand, the number of municipalities that have set up bike interchange stations in all or at least one railway station (74%), or at schools and universities (80%) is stable, while the percentage of cities where electric recharging points for pedal-assist bicycles are available is falling, from 38% in 2015 to 33% in 2020 (35% in 2019). The Top 5 Italian cities for bicycle parking at railway stations are Bologna, Florence, Ferrara, Treviso and Piacenza.
As in 2019, most charging points are concentrated in a few cities, notably Trento and Padua, which together account for almost 80% of the total, 320 and 312 respectively. However, 13 out of 23 municipalities do not exceed 5 charging points and only 6 municipalities have more than 10.
Regarding bike-sharing, 54% of the municipalities have introduced bike-sharing services with a total fleet of about 35,000 bikes. The cities with the highest number of rentals include Milan, Brescia, Florence, Turin and Bologna, all under 1 million rentals per year, except Milan which had 4.3 million rentals in 2020. The number of total annual rentals fell by 47% compared to 2019, suffering from competition from scooter-sharing, as did the total distance travelled, which fell by 51% compared to 2019.