Cycling is likely to see seismic change as cities look to harness the benefits of this economically, socially and environmentally sustainable transport mode.
Yet the latest government data on road accidents paint a worrying picture of the dangers faced by travellers using two wheels.
During 2012, some 118 cyclists were killed and 3,222 seriously injured on the roads of Britain. In a year when the number of fatalities fell for almost all road user groups, the amount of cyclists killed actually rose by 10% on the previous year.
The technological prowess of smart cities could well resign such figures to the history books. These digital centres use ICT technology and infrastructure to help regions become more efficient, while boosting quality of life for residents. The path to more intelligent transport systems is a long one, but many believe the use of responsive technology could permanently transform approaches to cycling.
Public opinion surrounding safety remains crucial when encouraging communities to take to their bikes. Technology director at Atkins, Lee Woodcock, says improvements for pedestrians and cyclists will have to be a central ‘pillar’ of smarter approaches to transport delivery if urban movement is to be improved.
‘The active elements around intelligent mobility often get lost: that’s walking or cycling rather than autonomous vehicles and satellite navigation. We can’t lose focus on the active elements. The smart city changes around infrastructure are going to be really important,’ Mr Woodcock says.
‘We frequently see headlines in London about cyclists being injured or killed. While that’s happening we will really struggle to realise the full potential of cycling from the mobility point of view and from the health and social point of view.’
Road congestion represents a major source of concern for many cyclists and technology that might encourage a modal shift is much sought after. Improving public confidence will be key, yet improvements to city-wide connectivity will also support travellers to incorporate cycling into their journey.
Mr Woodcock suggests the popularity of cycle hire schemes could soar if data on GPS tracking was made more available to the public. He describes how straightforward mapping units attached to bicycle handlebars could break down reservations surrounding the navigation of busy roads in an unknown city. ‘It has to be really simple and basic for people who want to explore cities,’ he says.
‘The easier we can make it for people to feel safe and confident - using technology as an enabler - is absolutely critical.’
However the most significant benefits will only be realised when such technological advances are tied into infrastructure management, as data is used to help separate different forms of traffic.
‘The more capacity we can free up by being smarter on our intelligent mobility will enable us to put in the right infrastructure for cyclists to cycle safely.
When that starts to happen on scale, we’ll see a huge change to the fear of cycling in cities in quite a large amount of the population.’ Whether mapping information is used to create dedicated cycle routes, segregated sections on the main network or ‘offline’ routes running around the city, these environments will need to be well signposted and attractive to ensure popularity.
‘Technology enables a reduction in congestion that therefore enables a reassignment of the network to occur through segregation. Where segregation can’t occur, then there are lots of other things around emerging technology that can help, such as vehicleto- vehicle communication,’ Mr Woodcock adds.
While smart cities will allow leaders to boost their awareness of the transport network through responsive technology, the tools used to harness such information could well come from members of the community.
Cycling could in fact be transformed by interactive infrastructure that allows city residents to make use of the technology they themselves carry around every day. Senior researcher at innovation charity Nesta, Tom Saunders, says that while the recent efforts by Transport for London to increase the intelligence of its bus and Underground services is significant, some of the most interesting work to make cities smarter is ‘happening from the bottom up’.
‘The interesting thing about the smart city narrative is that it talks about an operations centre; it talks about Internet sensors and things throughout a city; but this narrative largely ignores that almost everyone has a mobile phone in their pocket, which is a sensor and is a connection to a world of apps you can use,’ Mr Saunders says.
‘I’m not sure whether we do need cities to invest billions in putting sensors throughout everything to make transport smoother and quicker or we can use what we’ve got, which is a powerful sensor in our pockets.’
Mr Saunders points to the growing number of apps that help users to bypass driving to a destination by offering directions for walking. Signposts that - when scanned - offer routes to a destination by foot could encourage drivers to walk, thus freeing up the road for cyclists and improving safety and popularity. ‘From the cycling side, people are also now creating apps showing you the safest routes,’ Mr Saunders says. ‘The point is, it’s crowd-sourced, with people submitting their own routes, and not a top-down mechanism.’
One app that is creating significant waves is Social Cyclist, which allows riders to advise others on routes and trade information on bike-sharing schemes.
This is particularly interesting given that the aggregate data can then be analysed by cities, potentially informing future planning decisions.
Mr Saunders admits that the top-down approach of the London Congestion Charge was ‘hugely successful in reducing the number of cars on the roads’.
However he adds that leaders looking to take on smart city projects ‘need to be aware there are other ways, not just those embedded centres across a city’.
Creation of responsive infrastructure and wider connectivity improvements could therefore allow the cycling community to evaluate and advance the transport network with phones or tablet technology.
Growing availability of cameras and sensors is already changing travel patterns, and Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator at national cycling charity CTC, believes smart cities could lead to significant improvements in traffic monitoring.
‘The main barrier to more people cycling in this country is concerns over safety,’ Mr Peck says.
‘Essentially what most people are worried about is the volume of high-speed traffic.’
‘The growth of data capture is going to be helpful to eliminate the 1% or less than 1% of drivers who are really a danger to those around them and try to keep them off the streets.’
Wider deployment of cameras would most likely also benefit cycle lane enforcement, while the ability for cars to exceed the speed limit and endanger other road users could also be greatly restricted.
Yet fixed cameras will not be the only smart technology available to cities as vehicles themselves adopt sensors to navigate and record traffic.
Google’s plan to pilot a fleet of self-driving cars on the roads of California recently left much of the transport world scrambling to keep up. By removing driver fallibility, it is thought autonomous vehicles will have a colossal impact on cycle safety.
Yet another test project closer to home has recently fixed sensors to buses in