The Transport Ministry has set aside €30 million for projects aimed at renovating and developing cycle paths in the first round of a cycling development call, and plans to earmark another €55 million for the second and third rounds. In the first round, the ministry is set to fund 25 projects, which will lead to 80 km of new or repaired cycle paths. The goal is to make cycle paths not only a means of sport and relaxation, but also a way to travel to school, work and bus/railway stations and to connect towns with nearby villages. The sum offered by the fund was supposed to be higher, but due to Slovakia’s economic situation in 2020 and 2021, the fund offered about €300 million less.
Copenhagen and Amserdam are currently the best rated cities for cyclists in Europe, but the European Cyclist’s Find of the EU must spend €6bn between 2021 – 2027 in order to trigger ‘modal shift’ ie. get a critical number of people to switch from cars to bicycles.
Goldstein Research analysts forecast that the Europe bicycle industry is set to reach almost €20bn by 2024, and is expected to grow with an annual rate of 5.5%. In comparison, the European car market is expected to grow by only 1.7% until 2024.
