Mobility Week is celebrated throughout Europe. This year’s theme is the shared urban space. The theme week encourages people to consider their daily mobility choices and their impact on the environment, society and health.
In Helsinki, the week culminates on Friday, 20 September on Kansalaistori, where residents will be able to maintain and tune up their bicycles for the autumn, from 11 am to 5 pm.
Bicycles are an important part of Helsinki’s traffic culture
Cycling in Helsinki is promoted primarily through traffic and urban planning. This year, cycling conditions have been improved through the building of new bike paths. As an example, the Kaisantunneli tunnel, which provides a route under the railway station, was opened on 4 May, and bike paths were built alongside the new number 13 tram, which opened in August.
Public transportation and cycling are developed hand in hand, to make it easier for residents to favour sustainable modes of transport.
It is the goal of the City of Helsinki to complete the target network of cycling routes in the entire inner city as well as the Baana network by 2030, which will make it possible to get to even more destinations with a bicycle.
A preference for cycling and other sustainable modes of transport promotes a healthy lifestyle and improves the attractiveness and safety of shared urban spaces as the negative environmental effects of vehicle traffic are reduced. Helsinki encourages residents to make use of the new cycling infrastructure and to check out new routes on Mobility Week.
“Cycling does not, by any means, need to be a lifestyle choice, just another way to get from one place to another,” says cycling coordinator Oskari Kaupinmäki.
