Cycling as a central element of inclusive mobility

Although it is true that not everyone can move by bicycle, it is equally true that a cycling infrastructure planned and designed with quality criteria can also be helpful to those who have difficulty moving independently such as children, the elderly, pregnant women, the disabled. Even the youngest children can move by bicycle, accompanied by an adult, if the routes are safe, easily identifiable and with signs for immediate use. Perhaps the best indicator of a cycling area is the amount of young children and young people who cycle everyday. Similarly, in the most "cyclable" countries, older people are not excluded from active mobility, and indeed they are protagonists: also thanks to the spread of the electric bicycle, for example, in the Netherlands older people travel more kilometres by bicycle than all other age categories (CLO, 2018).

Cycling can actually represent an important option of individual and autonomous mobility for the elderly, with positive effects on the health conditions of those who cycle and with the additional advantage of lightening the load of those who take care of them (and have often to accompany them everywhere). Finally, a more cyclable territory is inclusive because it offers pleasant, safe and autonomous mobility spaces even to people with disabilities. In fact, both the creation of separate cycle paths and the redevelopment of public mobility spaces to encourage the sharing of the road among all users contribute to creating favourable conditions for the mobility of wheelchairs, electric tricycles and all people who have difficulty moving. Also in this case it is useful to refer to the most virtuous examples on the subject: in the Netherlands it is very common to use separate cycle paths by people in wheelchairs, pregnant women, those who use special bicycles for people with disabilities (alone or in tandem) and, in general, users who in other contexts would have enormous difficulty in moving independently and without a motor vehicle.  It is certainly true that not everyone can ride a bicycle. But a more cyclable territory can allow everyone to move safely and serenely.