Car-free Sunday increases bicycle traffic by 38% in spite of less weather

Effect car-free Sunday • Written by Wouter Florizoone on 28 September 2020

During the car-free Sunday on 27 September 2020 in Leuven, a selection of about 10 active "Telramen" found that - despite the weather conditions - there was significantly more walking, cycling and less driving.

During the car-free Sunday on 27 September 2020 in Leuven, a selection of about 10 active "Telramen" found that - despite the weather conditions - there was significantly more walking, cycling and less driving. Given the closure of the inner city, this is also a logical consequence, but it is the very first time that this was also established by means of objective measurements.

35-40% more cyclists, 3 times fewer cars


Telramen are fully automatic traffic counters that are hung up in citizens' homes. In order to calculate the effect of last car-free Sunday, the data of 10 active Telramen in the centre of Leuven for the past 4 Sundays were compared with each other. This shows that yesterday there were 35 to 40% more cyclists than on a comparable Sunday. The number of cars was 3 times lower.
The Telramen are all positioned in the heart of the city on major thoroughfares or connecting streets and are part of the network being rolled out as part of the European WeCount project.

The data comes from the following counting locations :
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/347690 (Kapucijnenvoer)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/347295 (Naamsestraat)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/9000000640 (M_Theresiastraat)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/348095 (rue de Bruxelles)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/347941 (Ridderstraat)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/347931 (V_Decosterstraat)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/9000000592 (Burchtstraat)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/9000000607 (Prosper Pouletlaan)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/347365 (Dekenstraat)
o https://www.telraam.net/nl/location/9000000654 (Redingenstraat)

For more information, please visit info@telraam.net or call 0485/345070.