Governance and strategies for increased cycling

Karlstad municipality is ranked as one of the best cycling cities in Sweden and have won the award for the best cycling city for 3 years in a row between 2018 – 2020.

This would not have been possible without a long-term strategic and goal-oriented work to both reduce climate emissions but also increase the proportion of sustainable
travel in Karlstad. Since the mid-1990s, Karlstad Municipality has worked with politically decided strategies such as the environmentally adapted traffic plan (1995), the
environmental and climate strategy (2006) and the Traffic Plan and Bicycle Plan (2014) where sustainable travel and cycling have been in focus. Recurring travel habits survey between 2014 – 2020 shows that cycling in the Karlstad urban area has a market share of about 20% of the total proportion of trips. Car traffic accounts for 55–60% of total travel. Cycling in Karlstad has primarily increased to these levels from the mid-1990s to 2010 when major investments were made in cycling infrastructure. In the last 8 years, very small changes have taken place. Further measures are therefore needed for a sustainable and functional transport system.

In order to minimize passenger traffic, it is a matter of creating safe structures that stimulate more people to walk and cycle, especially within the urban area. It’s also about creating attractive public transport system with well planned interchanges that stimulate work commuting with sustainable means of transport and favor the train or bus as a travel choice for longer journeys. Dense and mixed building structures with proximity to service and other functions from the home are an important part of reducing travel needs.

Collect rather than spread
Both in the city and in the countryside, a different way of planning and building is required to create attractive environments in our urban areas and districts. Collecting
the buildings instead of spreading them helps to reduce the travel needs between home and work or housing and leisure activities. It provides more vibrant communities,
while strengthening the basis for public transport and service nodes.

Reduced need for travel
Minimizing transport and travel needs is an important part of a climate-smart city. By locating traffic-intensive operations close to national and regional traffic routes,
more efficient logistics structures are created, which also means fewer disturbances. In rural areas, it should primarily be densified in locations within walking and
cycling distance from service and leisure activities so that it is possible to walk and cycle to functions that are important for everyday life. In the same way, densification around important public transport nodes makes it possible to commute by public transport.

Walking and cycling friendliness
The short journeys need to be made to a greater extent with sustainable means of transport. Which means more people have to choose to go and cycling within the city
limits. The probability of cycling or walking is greater if the distance from the start to the finish point is not exceeds 1.5-2 km. The only urban structure that benefits from this on a large scale is that concentrated dense city. Another issue is the attractiveness of pedestrian and bicycle paths,
both visually, functionally and how it is experienced in terms of safety. Densification around the traffic routes increases the perceived safety, but at the same time efforts
are also required in today’s pedestrian and bicycle passages. Today’s tunnels and bridges are often narrow and heavily neglected, which means that they feel unsafe,
especially in the evening. It can create a reluctance to walk and cycle in these sections. The fast bike lanes need to be updated so they are possible to cycle quickly in without conflicts with pedestrians and unclear.

Qualitative mobility nodes
Mobility needs to be diversified, it must be easy to choose the right means of transport for the right journey – and it must be easy to change means of transport. By creating mobility hubs that facilitate climate-smart changes, congestion in the central parts of Karlstad can be reduced to some extent. At the same time, a life without the need for a car can be made possible, if the accessibility for the individual increases through greater conditions for choosing flexible, environmentally friendly modes of
transport. Qualitative mobility nodes that are easy to walk and cycle to, and which can also facilitate everyday life and commuting by public transport, will be important elements in the future cityscape. In order for the mobility nodes to be perceived as accessible and safe regardless of the time of day, it is good if they are co-located with other buildings such as businesses, services or housing.

Parking
Parking as a means of control is an important tool that can affect both car use and car ownership. A good balance is needed where we as a municipality offer enough
residential parking, although perhaps not right next to the home, but still no more than those who actually do not need a car can consider opting out of it. To improve the possibility for residents in rural areas to commute collectively, there should be commuter car parks around the municipality. In the most central parts of urban areas, however, it can be difficult to justify commuter parking as land use in relation to densification with housing and businesses. In the outskirts of urban areas, in direct connection to existing stops, is generally considered to be a more suitable location. Bicycle parking is necessary to meet cyclists’ need for parking, but also to enable an orderly and functional urban environment. The parking norm requires property owners to arrange bicycle parking in connection with building permits, and in addition, the municipality arranges places in, among other things, urban centers and public transport stops. In addition to the right number of parking spaces, the location is crucial for the spaces to be used and useful. With more and more different types of bicycles (cargo bicycles, electric bicycles, bicycle carts, etc.), it will be important to arrange parking that can also handle these vehicles in a satisfactory manner.

Traffic plan, bicycle plan, mobility plan
In Karlstad, there is a politically adopted traffic plan and bicycle plan since 2014. In order to work more clearly with how we travel and how we can increase sustainable travel, a mobility plan will be developed in 2023. Provides conditions for what a long-term work for increased cycling looks like in a region or city. The plan can function as a strategy or action plan with measures that describe what must be done to achieve the long-term goals for sustainable development in the area of traffic. With the
help of a traffic plan, bicycle plan or mobility plan, the municipality can achieve the following:

• The traffic plan describes what the traffic system should look like and proposes measures to achieve adopted goals.
• In essence, these mean that the proportion who walk, cycle and travel by public transport must increase and that car traffic must not increase at the same rate as hitherto.
• Identify future development of the cycle path network
• What the financing of infrastructure measures should look like
• Soft measures in mobility that will promote the transition to increased sustainable travel

Target groups are:

Politician
The policy sets the framework and direction for a municipality and thus needs to be a decision-making body regarding goals and measures that are developed around
how the transport system is to be developed and how they are described in plans and programs.

Civil servants
Civil servants work out the basis needed for the policy to be able to make decisions about goals and measures. Civil servants are then instructed to implement the measures decided on by the policy.

Citizens
Affected in different ways by what is decided and as a user of the transport system.

Business and Associations
Also affected by the decisions made and users of the transport system.

For more information, please contact: Mikael Haster, (mikael.haster@karlstad.se)