Lugano comes last in Switzerland for cycling friendliness

Lugano has pursued sustainable mobility goals for thirty years, but the numbers tell a different story. The city has 609 cars per 1,000 residents, the highest motorisation rate among Swiss cities, while cycling accounts for less than 2% of all trips.

In recent years the city has expanded bike-sharing and allowed cyclists onto bus lanes. The spread of e-bikes has eased the burden of the city's hills, long a historic obstacle for cyclists. But according to Damiano Petralli, a sustainable urban planning consultant who devoted his master's thesis to cycling mobility in Lugano, these measures remain insufficient without dedicated infrastructure. Signage often promises cycle routes that then break off without warning. “Bisogna essere motivati per pedalare a Lugano, bisogna avere il pallino del ciclista, per muoversi in città” (“You need to be motivated to cycle in Lugano, you need to have the cyclist's passion, to get around the city”), Petralli says.

The only cycle path entirely separated from traffic runs along the Cassarate river: 200 metres, built fifteen years ago and never replicated elsewhere. In 2001 the Traffic and Environment Association (ATA) withdrew its appeal against the Vedeggio-Cassarate tunnel in exchange for a promise of a continuous cycling network. More than twenty years later, that network does not exist. A recent Pro Velo survey of 56 Swiss cities, based on safety and comfort for cyclists, ranks Lugano last. “Hanno fatto i cartelli e non hanno fatto le piste. Mi domando cosa sia costata al contribuente questa 'piantagione di cartelli'” (“They put up signs but didn't build the paths. I wonder what this 'planting of signs' cost taxpayers”), says Chiara Lepori of the ATA. For former professional cyclist Marco Vitali, the comparison with other Ticino cities is unforgiving: “Bellinzona e Locarno stanno lavorando molto bene, c'è una volontà politica che va nella direzione auspicata. Mentre Lugano è la città più problematica, è l'ultima degli ultimi e con distacco!” (“Bellinzona and Locarno are doing very good work, there's political will moving in the right direction. Lugano, on the other hand, is the most problematic city, it's the last of the last, by a wide margin!”)

The public space question

City councillor Filippo Lombardi attributes the delays to the area's terrain, marked by narrow streets and steep slopes, and to cultural resistance among residents. A year ago a referendum rejected, with almost 70% of votes, the extension of 30 km/h zones in residential neighbourhoods. Referendum promoter Lukas Bernasconi, of the Lega party, rejects the “anti-bike” label: in his view, the vote was about a blanket speed limit, not slow mobility. Environmental associations instead see the referendum result as an alibi for further delaying the redistribution of public space, which today is largely occupied by cars.

Something is moving from below. The Mobalt project, which rewards employees with financial incentives for commuting by bike, has found that 17% of users gave up their car or motorcycle for the trip to work. In Breganzona, the Ciclofficina Miao workshop offers repairs, recycling and a meeting point for people who would like to cycle but are afraid of traffic. Liberal-Radical Party (PLR) city councillor Céline Antonini, who cycles to save time, observes: “Bisogna rendere più attrattiva l'alternativa, altrimenti questo spostamento non avviene e ci troveremo sempre in un traffico insostenibile per tutti” (“The alternative needs to be made more attractive, otherwise this shift won't happen and we'll always be stuck in traffic that's unsustainable for everyone”).

The question of who pays for this inertia remains open: people without a car, people who cannot afford one, or people who would simply like to cross the city safely, without having to feel, as Petralli puts it, like a cyclist by vocation.