Many people believe that bicycle is a healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport. However, it is still unpopular in many countries. What are the reasons? What could be done to encourage the use of bicycles among the wider population?

Even though cycling is one of the greenest and the healthiest ways of moving around the city, many people still have been avoiding it. In my opinion, it is a lack of cycling

infrastructure

that limits and stops people from riding a bicycle.

However

,

this

can be easily solved by re-designing the road network, taking into account both experienced and inexperienced cyclists. The root cause of the unpopularity of cycling is that the roads in many cities are not

cycle

-friendly.

This

is because they were designed for cars and have not been modernised since their construction hundreds of years ago, when there were not

such

modern problems as a heavy traffic and congestions.

Therefore

, they are not able to provide safe space for cyclists and to enable them to feel secure and confident while riding alongside cars.

Moreover

, the lack of cycling

infrastructure

may cause road accidents.

For instance

, many of those who have already had road accidents while riding bicycle, will not probably have a desire to

cycle

again unless they see tremendous changes on the roads and feel safe to use them. It is quite evident that the best approach to tackle the problem of people being afraid of cycling on busy roads is to invest more money in cycling

infrastructure

. If more

cycle

paths were constructed and some roads were converted into

cycle

-only roads, it would reduce pressure and stress on cyclists and,

as a result

encourage citizens to use bicycles

instead

of public transport or private cars. A prime example of

cycle

-friendly city Amsterdam, where the vast majority of citizens use their bicycles not only for pleasure, but

also

to commute due to exceptionally well-organised

cycle

lanes. In

this

city cars are quests on the streets, not bicycles. In conclusion, the undeveloped cycling

infrastructure

appears to be the reason why bicycles are still not the most popular means of transportation. In order to encourage people to ride the bicycles more often, pecuniary resources should be allocated to the construction of an elaborate network of

cycle

lanes as cycling should be comfortable and safe for everyone.