Bucharest City Hall plans to build 60 km of bike lanes in the capital, on both major boulevards and smaller streets.

In this sense, the Municipality has already started preparing the feasibility studies for 12 routes to be built in the most important areas of Bucharest.

“The Urban Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan Bucharest - Ilfov, approved by the General Council of the Capital and the Ilfov County Council, includes detailed proposals for projects aimed at encouraging the use of bicycle and, in the first stage of setting up the network of bike lanes, in the short term, there will be developed 12 projects that total around 60 km of bike lanes,” reads a statement from the Bucharest City Hall.

The 12 projects target routes between Calea Victoriei and Splaiul Independentei (0.6 km), Unirii and Victoriei Squares (3.3 km), Victoriei Square and Baneasa neighborhood (6.5 km), Unirii Square – Mihai Bravu Blvd. (3 km), Universitate Square – Doamna Ghica Blvd. (6 km), Doamna Ghica Blvd. – Pipera neighborhood (6.3 km), Virturii street – Unirii Square (5.6 km), Unirii Square – 1 Decembrie (6 km), Basarab – Romana Square (2.4 km), Unirii Square – Alexandriei street (5.2 km), Alexandriei street – Magurele (6.2 km), and the ring road – Voluntari – Doamna Ghica (7 km).

The projects can be submitted from September 20, 2017 to March 20, 2018.

In a second stage, the City Hall plans to develop the rest of the regional interconnection network, of about 200 km of bicycle infrastructure.

The Municipality also announced that it considers increasing the number of vouchers for bike acquisitions, as the program was vey popular.

The City Hall launched the “Cyclists in Bucharest” program last month, planning to give 5,000 vouchers worth RON 500 each, which people can use to buy bikes. However, some 30,000 people submitted requests for vouchers. The City Hall will review the first 5,000 requests by the end of this week, and will then take the necessary steps to increase the number of vouchers.

Moreover, the program could also continue next year.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com