Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), has ambitious plans. In her most recent bicycle policy plan, she expects Flemish citizens to hop on the bike for more than 30% of their daily journeys. To achieve that goal, Peeters is willing to invest at least 300 million euros a year.

Peeters’ previous bicycle policy plan, drawn up in 2016, is “hopelessly outdated”, she says, partly because cargo bikes, e-scooters, and speed pedelecs are far more popular today and because cycling, in general, has become more common. “Still, there is room for growth.”

Safer school surroundings

In 2020, 14,19% of all trips in Flanders were made by bicycle. According to Peeter’s new ‘cycling ambition’, this should be 30% by 2040. The Mobility Minister, therefore, wants to improve bicycle infrastructure further and increase safety for vulnerable road users. “Cycling in 2040 should be safer, more comfortable, and more effective than today.”

“An eight-year-old child should be able to ride autonomously to school by bike. That should become the standard,” she says. She, therefore, intends to ban all motorized traffic from school surroundings and tackle at least 125 dangerous intersections every year by making them as conflict-free as possible.

‘Trend is set’

With the annual budget she reserves, she also wants to eliminate ‘forgotten spots’ and ‘missing links’ on bicycle highways or bike tracks. Peeters admits that her ambitious plan will not be realized overnight, but she’s convinced it will all work out well. “We still have a long way to go,” she concludes, “but the trend is set.”

One of the priorities on the agenda is to find a solution for the dangerous situation along the bicycle highway in Zemst (Mechelen), where recently, and in a short time, three cyclists ended up in the Zenne River. Unfortunately, one of the victims, a 25-year-old woman, drowned.

Safety first

The problem in Zemst is that the bicycle highway is situated on a towpath, used by the Flemish Waterway, but the zone between the bike track and the river bank is very narrow and not protected. Too little has been done about safety.

Minister Peeters, therefore, considers planting hedges and installing dynamic and ecological lighting along the track. She also emphasizes that safety must take precedence over ecological considerations. Anyway, she wants the problems in Zemst to be solved before this summer.

In the meantime, the Cyclists’ Union (Fietersbond) is not impressed by Lydia Peeters’ cycling ambition; they’d rather see concrete measures to realize that ambition. “Talking about a vision is one thing; realizing it on the field requires more consultation and broadly shared points of view.”