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The bicycle is still having trouble imposing itself in the European urban environment.

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Getting around town on a bike is still all too often a real battle.

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The infrastructures are often poor, the roads are dangerous,

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but it's mainly the behavior of car drivers which is the problem.

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A problem that the cyclists of Bucharest, like Florin, know well.

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They don't consider us to be proper road users, so it's difficult.

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Over the last decade, the number of bicycles in Bucharest has almost doubled.

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Traffic is heavy there and cyclists have trouble fitting in.

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We have air pollution, noise pollution, all sorts,

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and we want to get rid of all that to have a cleaner city.

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And so we have to promote other forms of transport, such as public transport and bicycles.

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The city has also started to build dozens of kilometers of cycle paths.

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Bucharest has become involved in the Spicycle project,

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supported by the European Union's Intelligent Energy Europe program,

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which is helping several cities to develop the use of the bicycle.

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In Bolzano, in the north of Italy, on the other hand, the bicycle already plays a central role.

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In just a few years, this bilingual city has become a model of sustainable mobility.

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The policy implemented by Bolzano over the last few years is certainly a decisive factor in the success.

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We have 80,000 cycle journeys a day, representing more than 25% of the city's traffic.

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With the help of the BiPAD scheme, also co-financed by Intelligent Energy Europe

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and involving more than 100 European cities,

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the municipality made a heavy investment in order to make the city more accessible to cyclists

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and therefore a more pleasant place to live.

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An in-depth audit was necessary.

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And then a network of cycle paths, bicycle parking places and a bike rental system were established.

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We've had a nice little tour. It's practical and quicker to get around town.

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This is Bromley, in the southern suburbs of London.

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Here the council has organized training for young people as part of another European project, the Astute program.

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We want to give them that training when they're younger,

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so they become more adept, much better cyclists as young people.

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And you realize that training has other positive effects on these young adults of tomorrow.

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I like using a bike more because you feel like you're doing more,

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like you're using up more energy, which is more fun than just sitting in a car doing nothing.

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A bike doesn't use up any fuel, so it's more friendly to the environment.

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Enjoying yourself, taking some exercise and protecting the environment.

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Three good reasons for European cities to promote the bicycle

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as an alternative to polluting transport and so make cyclists' lives easier.