Brussels Brings the Bicycle Back

The Belgians don’t ride bicycles they ride Bromptons, and while nothing will ever compare to the sex appeal of a Belgian on a vintage bicycle there is something very dapper about a well-dressed Belgian expertly whizzing through traffic on a slightly odd, but very funky looking, fold-up bicycle.

While it is a slight exaggeration that ALL Belgians ride Bromptons, to say the least, there are a lot of Belgians looking slightly odd, but ever so funky on fold-up bikes.

Also slightly odd, but exceptionally funky, is Belgium’s bicycle politics, in fact Brussels reminds me of Melbourne: multiple municipalities, governed by multiple political ideologies, and getting a coherent bicycle policy in place is painfully complicated.

Unlike Melbourne Brussels actually has a coherent bicycle policy and the government has a bold vision for 20% more bicycles in Brussels by 2018.

They have already put in place a bicycle-share scheme, a bike system to integrate with their trains, two-way access for bicycles on all one-way streets, opened bus lanes to bicycles, and they have no helmet law and yet, the distinct lack of people using bicycles in Brussels gives the distinct impression that despite all the efforts the Brusselians have not embraced the bicycle like the Dubliners.

So I did some asking around and found someone at the top to do the explaining.

The Minister of Transport for the Brussels-Capital Region, Brigitte Grouwels, says there is still a misconception that cycling is dangerous. Although it does have some truth to it given there are still far more cars than bicycles in Brussels.

Grouwels is on a mission to shift this in reality and this year doubled the bicycle budget to 11 Million Euros, specifically for the creation of separated bicycle lanes. Grouwels says the doubling of the budget was a lot for a Government experiencing financial difficulties.

The Minister suggests the reason I wasn’t seeing the same bicycle fever in Brussels as I saw in Dublin is because Brussels is at the beginning of the process to shift a very car-orientated population to bicycles.

With change comes opposition, which Grouwels says has come not just from a car-orientated population, but the some of local politicians as well.

Grouwels is not letting this stop her and she’s hopeful that when the local elections come up in October this year, those with old-school political ideologies with be replaced with new minds and her five-year plan will be rolled out with ease.

So what’s her secret to getting people to change their mind set from cars to bicycles, even if it has been with difficulty?

Simply invite people to try a bicycle says Grouwels, “we have installed the shared bicycle and you see now every where in Brussels these places where yellow bikes are standing inviting you to go on a bike, and this creates in the mind of the people, this is a bicycle city”.

So folks the Brussels’ Minister for Transport invites you to take a bike!