How has bicycle use progressed globally? This is a very difficult question to answer. However, drawing on a database of 1196 counters across 29 countries, counting 218 million cyclists, Eco-Counter has developed an effective response. The index – a simple calculation for traffic progression from one year to the next – only includes counters with data from both 2013 and 2014.

Eco-Counter Cycling Worldwide Index:
8% increase between 2013 and 2014!

Countries ranking

Countries which saw the biggest increase on a national level between 2013 and 2014 are:

1. Germany +14%

2. Ex-aequo Poland, United-Kingdom and Austria +12%

3. Switzerland +11%

Countries following the podium are: France +10%, Sweden +6% and New-Zealand +3%. United-States and Canada are stable, while Spain experiences a drop of -2% of its cycling traffic between 2013 and 2014.

Methodology

This analysis is based exclusively on data coming from bicycle counters (ZELT & pneumatic TUBES) installed in a permanent way in 2013 and 2014.

To assure data consistency, a validation of the database was undertaken prior to the Worldwide Cycling Index calculation. Counters with over 10% of missing data in 2013 or 2014 (which corresponds to over 36 days of missing data on either of each year) were excluded from the analysis.

On the 890 remaining counting sites, we paid particular attention to check data of the counters fitting into one of the categories below:

– At least 10% of null data in 2013 or 2014 (in this case, only the counters with understandably low figures were taken into account) ;

– At least one suspiciously high peak of attendance in 2013 or 2014 (which is daily data over 6 times higher than regular daily average) ;

– A change by a percentage of over 15% between 2013 and 2014

To ensure optimum accuracy, counters representing 80% of the total worldwide data were checked as well, which brings the total figures to 650 counters checked for data validation. Unexplained and unjustified data have not been included in the analysis, and for this reason, 614 counters, and 24 countries have been analyzed. Country ranking only includes the 11 countries with at least 10 reliable counters.

Number of counters per country: Germany – 30 counters, Poland – 12 counters, United-Kingdom – 69 counters, Austria – 27 counters, Switzerland – 43 counters, France – 234 counters, Sweden – 33 counters, New-Zealand – 23 counters, USA – 60 counters, Canada – 26 counters, Spain – 18 counters.

Therefore, the Worldwide Cycling Index is based on the evolution of the daily average attendance per counter, between 2013 and 2014. The Worldwide Cycling Index represents to this day, a valuable index regarding the evolution of bicycle usage around the world. Year-on-year, counting devices rise will help us widening the scope of analysis and therefore obtain even more precise and complete results. All authorities with bicycle counts data access corresponding to this methodology willing to share data will be freely included to this index.