Bike boom, over 2 million in 2020 but ‘the municipalities are following trial in fits and starts’

In 2020, the latest data available, over 2 million bicycles were sold. This is what can be read, among other things, in the “Focus2R”, the annual point of the situation in the world of cycles and motorcycles developed by Ancma of Confindustria and Legambiente. Compared to 2019, we still read, traditional bikes have grown (+ 14%) with 1,730,000 units sold, while eBikes with 280,000 units have registered a robust + 44%. It is “a moment marked by a great desire for two wheels and a new demand for individual mobility – observes the president of Ancma, Paolo Magri – which further strengthens the role of bicycles and motorcycles, underlining their unique features such as usability , environmental sustainability, and speed of travel. Two wheels are now a solution: all the indicators in the report make it urgent and necessary for the legislator and local governments to pay greater attention to this mobility and its integration with other transport solutions “. 2020 also confirmed the specialized shop as a reference point for consumers in the area: Confindustria Ancma estimates, in fact, that more than 70% of the 2 billion euro turnover of the entire sales network during the 2020 has been generated by the most proximity commercial realities. Also according to the first assessments of ANCMA, in 2021 the market would be approximately the same volumes as in 2020. “As many as 31 municipalities, also to overcome the circulation problems linked to Covid, have built a total of 224.5 km of new cycle paths: most of the local administrations interviewed have introduced more than 2 km of cycle paths, while 7 more than 10 km. The average availability of cycle paths, pedestrian and cycle paths and areas with moderate speed at 20 and 30 km / h also rises in 2020 and reaches 9.5 meters equivalent (+ 25% compared to 2015, the first year of the Focus2R survey). The number of municipalities where the transport of bicycles on public transport is also increased (52%), a slight increase compared to 2019 and a sharp increase compared to 31% in 2015 “.” The data of the administrations that set up bike exchange stations in all or at least one train station (74%), or at schools and universities (80%), while the percentage of cities where electric charging points for pedal-assisted bicycles are available is decreasing istita, which goes from 38% in 2015 to 33% in 2020 (it was 35% in 2019). As in 2019, most of the recharging points are concentrated in a few cities, in particular Trento and Padua which, together, account for almost 80% of the total, 320 and 312 respectively. In any case, 13 out of 23 municipalities do not exceed the 5 recharging points and only 6 municipalities have more than 10. Finally, as regards bike-sharing, 54% of the municipalities have introduced bicycle sharing services with a total fleet of approximately 35,000 vehicles. Among the cities with the highest number of withdrawals we find Milan, Brescia, Florence, Turin and Bologna, all under one million withdrawals per year, except Milan which records 4.3 million withdrawals in 2020. The number of total annual withdrawals decreases by 47% compared to to 2019, as well as the total mileage that falls by 51% compared to 2019 “. Two-wheeled motor vehicles are also back but not mopeds, electric is growing. significant recovery of the volumes lost due to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic (-5.5%), the 2021 market is back on the positive side. During the year, mopeds, scooters and motorcycles recorded a double-digit increase with a performance of + 21.2%, equal to 289,067 vehicles: the market has recovered and exceeded the volumes of 2012, when 255 thousand vehicles were sold.The only negative sign is that of mopeds, which recorded a decrease of 4.7% and 18,835 vehicles sold, for the first time (apart from the anomalous year of 2020) below 20 thousand units. The growth of scooters was significant, with 151,153 vehicles registered, corresponding to an increase of 21.3%; the trend of motorcycles is even more robust, with 119,079 vehicles registered and an overall growth of 26.4% over 2020. The most significant figure, however, appears to be that of the comparison with 2019, the last “normal” year before the pandemic: here the market is growing overall by 14.5%. The electric market is also back on the positive side after the misstep in November: in fact, December registered 835 vehicles, marking an increase of 5%. The result of the month allows electricians to close on par with 2020 (+ 0.5%), registering a total of 10,848 vehicles. The comparison with 2019 shows an increase of 85.5%.