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In a joint letter to Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, COLIBI and COLIPED, ECF and ETRA questioned the Commissioner on the removal of bicycle data from DG TREN’s website and offline publication, and insisted on the reintroduction of bicycle transport statistics.
According to the joint letter, the inclusion of bicycle transport statistics on DG TREN’s website were necessary to "understand the role of cycling in contemporary mobility patterns [and] bicycle traffic statistics will encourage various departments of the European Commission to take cycling into account in the development and the implementation of their respective policies. Also, it would reflect the EC’s concern with all modes of transport."
In the EU, five percent of all trips are made by bicycle. However, in the Netherlands the figure is 28 percent, in Denmark 18 percent, in Sweden 12 percent and in Germany 10 percent.
In a speedy reply, dated 4 November, European Commissioner de Palacio acknowledges the importance of bicycle traffic in Europe and guarantees that bicycle transport data will be reinstated on DG TREN’s website and they will also again be included in the 2002 edition of the Pocketbook.
