SynchroniCity Round Up: Antwerp
Background
Over ten weeks from mid June to August 2019, 400 cyclists in Antwerp contributed their ride insights as part of the See.Sense Smart Cycling project, facilitated through the EU SynchroniCity initiative. You can find out more about the See.Sense Smart Cycling project here.
What ride insights were shared?
Project participants collected their See.Sense ACE bicycle light and opted in to share ride insights with the project which included a mixture of quantitative sensor data (speed, road surface quality, swerving etc) and qualitative data in the form of geolocated survey feedback shared via an in-app survey.
Who was on the project?
Nearly 900 applications to join the project were received. Of the 400 who were successful in their application, 95% of these were commuter cyclists, 77% cycled on a daily basis with the remainder cycling at least once a week. We also reached an even split between male and female participants.
Participant Pool - Antwerp
What did we find out?
The following section contains a number of high level snapshots of ride insights shared through the project. For the most part the insights within these images have been heavily aggregated with one single average value representing the insights collected within a 10metre x 10metre square, these values are then only visualised if 3 or more distinct project participants have cycled within that square.
Mapping route popularity
Over the course of the project, we were impressed by the street coverage of the city centre. Almost every street of the city was covered by our participants. We were also extremely impressed by the distances many participants were travelling on a daily basis.
Mapping average speeds
Higher average speeds can be seen outside of the city centre with lower speeds for the most part experienced in the inner city. An exception being the cycle path along the Scheldt, which sees higher sustained speeds.
Mapping road surface quality
The graphic below highlights the top 20% of values on the See.Sense surface roughness index
What you told us
Through the project geolocated post ride surveys were submitted. These contained qualitative insights into the experience of cycling in Antwerp, highlighting issues like close passes, collisions, potholes and obstructions.
How do different groups cycle?
Through the See.Sense app, participants were able to create a profile to share information on Gender, Age and type of bicycle (e-bike vs ‘normal’ bike). In Antwerp, we found that male participants were, on average, travelling slightly more quickly than their female counterparts on ‘normal’ bikes, however women travelled faster on e-bikes than men. Male participants were also, on average, travelling on rougher roads and braking suddenly at higher rates than female participants. However, participants identifying as female experienced a higher level of swerving while riding through the city.
PROFILE ANALYSIS
Next Steps
We’d like to thank all 400 of our participants for joining our smart cycling project in Antwerp. We’re truly grateful for your continued support. We are currently exploring next steps with the City Council, using these ride insights to make cycling better in the city.