# Italian shared micro-mobility is growing fast! > « La bicicletta somiglia, più che ad ogni altra macchina, all’aeroplano: essa riduce al minimo il contatto con la terra, e soltanto la sua umiltà le impedisce di volare. » — Mauro Parrini Italy, worldwide known for its culture, its rich gastronomy and its breathtaking landscapes, is also a land of cycling. Often confined to sports, for a few years now the **bike** has become a **permanent fixture** in the mobility habits of Italians. And the electric scooter too! Indeed, micro-mobility is constantly growing in Italian cities. As such, the number of **micro-mobility systems**, including bikes and scooters, is constantly increasing: **+25%** between 2020 and 2021! This trend is in line with the **global growth of micro-mobility**, fueled by environmental concerns and changes in the way city dwellers travel towards greener mobility. In this article, Qucit takes a look at the reasons for this growth of shared micro-mobility in Italy. ## **What is the bike culture in Italy?** If Italy is often associated with sports cars or small city cars, bikes are becoming more and more important. One of the reasons? The sport! In fact, **sport cycling** has considerably **anchored the bike** in Italian society, even going so far as to consider it a symbol of its identity. Cycling is one of the most popular sports in Italy, with a long tradition and rich history. The country has hosted the **Giro d'Italia** since 1909, which is one of the three biggest cycling races in the world alongside the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. In addition, Italy has a long tradition of manufacturing **high quality bikes**, with some of the world's most renowned racing bike brands such as Colnago, Bianchi and Pinarello. Italians are known for their passion for bikes as a leisure activity but also as a **means of transportation**! In 2011, for the first time since 1964, bike sales exceeded those of cars. This " **bicimania**" was partly explained by the economic crisis that hit Italian households hard and the exponential increase in fuel prices. A situation which is not without reminding the current context... This craze for the bike, and more widely for the e-scooter, found a second wind during the health crisis of 2020. Indeed, **many cities** have **promoted micro-mobility** vehicles to improve urban mobility by reducing the overload of public transport to limit contamination. For example, **Milan**, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic in Europe, introduced 35 km of new bike lanes, expanded sidewalks and set a 30 km/h speed limit in the city center to encourage the use of micro-mobility vehicles. ## **Why is there a boom in micro-mobility in Italy?** According to Il Rapporto Nazionale sulla Sharing Mobility of 2022, in 2021 micro-mobility trips will account for **26 million rentals**. The number of shared micro-mobility services was 146 in 2021, which led to another positive aspect: the **spread of micro-mobility** to **southern cities**. For the first time since the monitoring of these activities, the number of provincial capitals with at least one shared micro-mobility service (62) is higher than those with no service (46). As such, **Milan** and **Rome** are the two cities with the **highest supply and demand** for micro-mobility services. - Rome, the Italian capital, has recently **reorganized its supply of shared e-scooters**. In order to better control the use of this means of transport, the municipality decided to lower the speed of the machines from 25 km/h to 20 km/h and to reduce the number of scooter operators from 7 to 3. - The city of **Milan** has had a bike-sharing service, BikeMi, since **2008**. Operated by ClearChannel, these shared bikes are located in **320 stations** around the city, allowing users to move around as they please while returning the bikes to the dedicated stations. A McKinsey study, _Why micro-mobility is here to stay,_ conducted in 2021, shows that this **micro-mobility trend** is not about to stop. In fact, in Italy, **81%** of respondents would be **willing to use a micro-mobility vehicle** to get to their workplace. This puts the country in second place, just behind China (86%), and shows a clear **preference for electric and mechanical bikes.** This trend is also reflected in Italy, where 65 self-service bike systems are in operation in 2023! ## **The example of Brescia** Brescia is an example of an Italian city that implemented a micro-mobility system **very early on**. Indeed, since 2008, this city in Lombardy has been offering a shared bike service to its residents. Today, this service has **450 mechanical and electric bikes** distributed over 93 stations. And its popularity continues to grow! In 2022, the operator Brescia Mobilità announced a **10% increase in its subscribers**, bringing their number to 34,000. **700,000 trips were made** with the Bicimia service in 2022. To cope with this growing popularity, Brescia Mobilità called on Qucit to optimize the [system's rebalancing](/content/en/rebalancing-operations/index.html) operations. The question of rebalancing is essential for the **management of a micro-mobility system**. A system is never perfectly balanced in a natural way. Some areas are primarily departure areas and others are arrival areas. Over time, user behaviors can change, making it necessary to continually **re-evaluate** these strategies. Qucit helps Brescia Mobilità to increase the usage rate of the bike-share while **optimizing the trips** to collect and drop off the right number of bikes at the stations. ## **What are the reasons for the development of micro-mobility in Italy?** The strong development of micro-mobility in Italy can be explained by several factors. First, the **environmental awareness** of Italians is growing. According to a survey conducted by Ipsos in 2021 for the Franco-Italian Dialogues for Europe, the level of sensitivity regarding the urgency of intervention is higher among Italians (81%) than among the French (72%). In addition, due to the **narrowness of the streets**, the increase in pedestrian areas, and **traffic congestion**, micro-mobility solutions in Italian cities offer a welcome alternative to the car. Finally, the arrival of **private fleet operators** has enabled many Italian cities to introduce new shared vehicle systems without having to bear the full cost of their investment. ## **Are there any persistent obstacles to the development of micro-mobility in Italy?** There are still obstacles to the expansion of micro-mobility. Among them, road safety for all users. On average, an Italian rider cycles less than 100 km per year, compared to 1100 km for a Dutch rider, but is five times more likely to have an accident. In fact, in 2021, **10% of road accidents** with injuries **involved cyclists**. 207 of them lost their lives. The lack of cycling infrastructure, the lack of respect for traffic regulations and a legislation that has long forgotten about cycling have led to this high exposure of cyclists to risk. However, in recent months, there has been a change. In August 2022, the Italian Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility unveiled the " **Piano generale della mobilità ciclistica**" (General _Plan for Cycling Mobility_). Covering the period 2022-2024, this bike plan, provided by a 2018 law that defined **bike paths as infrastructure of national interest**, presents the long-term planning to improve and strengthen bike infrastructure throughout Italy. The primary objective is to **promote the practice of cycling** throughout the territory, including increasing the safety of cyclists. In this way, the plan includes expanding the Italian **cycling network Bicitalia to 20,000 km**, encouraging large cities to have a **Biciplan**, achieving a modal share of cycling of 20% in metropolitan cities, increasing the density of cycling infrastructure in cities to a national average value of 32 km per 100 km2 (from 23.4 km in 2019) and developing **bike sharing systems**. With a budget of 1,154 million euros, this plan is very ambitious and finally places the bike as a mode of transport in its own right.