- Spring 2011: MAJOR CHANGES, MAJOR CHANGES! First,
the
official Cities for Bicycles website moved to www.miastadlarowerow.pl - but no English language version is
available yet.
Second, and more
important: Poland has new,
more cycle-friendly Highway Code, long campaigned for by the Cities for
Bicycles (see column to the right). Voted on April 1st it was
signed by Poland's
President, mr Bronisław Komorowski, on April, 22nd 2011 and will come
into force in mid May. Read
more
on the new law in English on the new website.
- [24th August, 2008] Late summer
gift for those of you who want to follow the EuroVelo 11 route from
Slovakia to Cracow on bikes with trailers, bags and do not know the
way. There is a GPS track (gdb format) and
brief guide
(pdf), available
here.
No, the EV11 route is not signposted in
Poland and it is nothing official - but may be of some help. Feedback is very much
welcome!
- [10th May, 2008] The
English language version of this site has not been updated for very,
very long time. We apologise for this.
The whole Cities
for
Bicycles
site will be revamped in a few months, with a totally
new English language part. Now, a brief update on
what has been going (or cycling, if you like) on in Poland:
- For the first time ever, All-Party Cycling Group
(APCG) has been formed in the Polish Parliament this year.
More than 40 MP's participate, with Ewa Wolak and Łukasz Gibała
being the Group chair and co-chair. Cities for Bicycles network
has long proposed changes in the Highway Code and other laws to stop
discriminating cyclists and to facilitate cycling infrastructure
implementation. These changes along with the National Cycling Policy
are the top priority for us. After first meetings with the APCG they
seem more feasible than ever. The proposed changes are published in the
Polish language part
of this site for public consultation here.
- The Gdańsk Cycling
Infrastructure Project, for many years the most important
activity of Cities for Bicycles, was completed in 2006. The project was
funded by the Global Environment Facility. English
summary
is
available
at
the
end
of Cycling
Gdańsk project pdf book. The city of Gdańsk now continues the cycling
infrastructure development with EU funding. 100 kilometres of cycleways
are to be built jointly with the cities of Sopot and Gdynia. This is
Poland's cycling infrastructure benchmark, with other cities sadly
lagging far behind.
- A number of cities adopted Cycling Infrastructure
Design Standards, a measure promoted by Cities for Bicycles to
improve the quality of cycling infrastructure. The chief reason for the
Design Standards are fundamental lack of expertise on part of road
engineers in Poland and legal system that promotes substandard
solutions for cyclists. Cities that adopted Standards include Gdańsk,
Kraków, Torun and Wrocław but the results are mixed, as the Standards
often are not implemented due to bad management.
- Critical Mass rides gained momentum and now take
place in most larger cities across Poland. The largest and oldest is The Warsaw CM,
with more than 2,000 cyclist taking part each month and with dedicated
non-motorized soundsystem platforms, or bakfietsen.
- Well, last but not least: the author of this site
for two years was involved in production of TV series on cycling. Most
of the 66 short Niezla Jazda (A Jolly
Good Ride) films on cycling in Poland may be
viewed here - in Polish
only.
- [21st
September,
2004]
In
town,
without
My
Car - European
Car Free Day
campaign in Poland a big success. More than 100 cities across
Poland take part in the event organized under the auspices of Ministry
of
Environment. However, the remaining 364 days of the year are by
far less car-less: Poland seems to be the most dangerous EU country for
cyclists and pedestrians. The apparent culprit is Poland's notorious Ministry
of
Infrastructure poor policies and even worse regulations. Read more.
- [21st
September,
2004]
Adam
Sztejka,
the
Bydgoszcz
Critical
Mass
activist died on 9th September after being hit by a drunk driver on
August, 27th. Adam was hospitalized in critical condition and
never regained consciousness after the accident. All September Critical Mass events
in Poland are in memory of Adam.
- [21st
September,
2004]
Europeand
Cycle
Messenger
Championships
ECMC
2004 took place in Warsaw, Poland, on July 30th - August, 1st. See
you in Basel next year!
- [21st
September,
2004]
Poland
not
a
safe
place for cyclists. Every
10th fatality on Poland's roads is a cyclist. This is about 600
cyclists killed
each year, more than in Germany with twice as much population and many
more cyclists in streets. Precise data are available for the city of Cracow
(750,000 inhabitants): 11.4% of all road accidents victims are
cyclists. Between 1999 and 2003 there were more than thousand accidents
involving cyclists, mostly in the downtown area. They resulted in
more than seven
hundred injured and three fatalities. Cycling is no more
than 2-3% of all traffic in Cracow.
- [21st
September]
Holiday
break
over,
here
come
the news again.
The Gdańsk Cycling
Infrastructure and Promotion Project was presented at the World Conference on Transport Research
in Istanbul, Turkey on 4th-8th July at the panel chaired by professor
Ralph Gakenheimer (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
and attended by Bonizella Biagini (Global Environment Facility),
Todd
Johnson
(World Bank) and Marcin Hyła (Cities
for
Bicycles, Poland). The presentation can be downloaded here (5 MB .ppt file).
- [6th
June,
2004]
Grand
Bicycle
Ride
in
Gdańsk. Four thousand
cyclists, including Mayor Paweł Adamowicz rode down the streets of Gdańsk
and posed for the cycling "family photo". The event, apparently the
largest ever in Poland, was a part of the Gdańsk Cycling Infrastructure Project.
Pictures will be available soon at www.rowery.gdansk.pl website.
- [24th
February, 2004] On The Bicycle Towards Freedom: Bicycle Messengers’
answer for identity crisis, Master Thesis in Social
Anthropology by Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, Lund University, Sweden is now
available
in .pdf format in English here (2 MB) (www.timebomb.blog.pl external website)
- [15th
February, 2004]
The January 2004 Warsaw
Critical Mass movie can be downloaded here (Windows Media v.9 format, 22
MB
.wmv file). Read more on Critical Mass in
Poland here.
- [4th
February, 2004]
Towards Carfree Cities IV Conference will take place in Berlin,
Germany, 19th through 24th July, 2004. See www.worldcarfree.net/conference for
details.
- [2nd
February, 2004]
European Cycling Messengers Championships 2004 will take place
in Warsaw, Poland on July 29th through August 2nd,
2004.
Visit
the
official
ECMC 2004 website. You
can buy the Warsaw Bicycle Messenger
Calendar 2004 to support the event.
- [28th
January, 2004] English
version of Cities for
Bicycles/rowery.org.pl website revamped
(or launched, to be frank). Welcome!
- VeloCity September 2003
Paris conference pictures are
online - view them here.
- Gdańsk
Cycling
Infrastucture
and
Promotion
Project brings first results. See the new
cycleways built in
the Wrzeszcz district and read about the project.
- Cracow
has
a
new
Cycling
Master
Plan
and sets the Cycling Task Force to work on cycling policy and
fundraise EU money to
build its core cycling network. Read more on Cracow the Cycling City website.
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CYCLING POLAND
- our strategy in
brief:
- To
change
the
Highway
Code
and eliminate its discrepancy with the Vienna Convention (article 16,
paragraph 2) and to improve legal framework for cycling in Poland.
Other proposed changes include new traffic signs and legalization of
white flashing LED headlights use by cyclists. Download the proposal (currently only
Polish version available).
- To
change
the
law
on
technical
standards
for
road infrastructure where it refers to
cycling. The proposal is based on the Cycling Infrastructure Standards,
developed for the city of Cracow. Download the standards (Polish
only,
English version soon)
- To develop National
Cycling Strategy by the Ministry of Infrastructure and
to
implement it by the government and local authorities; NCS should
include pilot cycling projects in the National Development Strategy for
EU structural funds and make provisions for Good Practice
guidances, national touring cycling routes system and cycleway
financing as the key issues.
- At local level: to
create Task Forces in all interested communities, to adopt Cycling
Infrastructure Standards by local authorities, to implement Bicycle
Audit
procedures and develop new cycling infrastructure projects, following
the Gdansk
project
model.
Who we are:
You can read more on the Cities for Bicycles
Network here.
You
can learn some Polish
by reading our books and bulletin in vernacular - click
here.
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