The use of bicycles is already quite popular in some European countries, such as the Netherlands and Denmark. It also has a significant share among the main modes of transport in some of these countries. However, in Portugal, although the transport sector accounts for around 25% of emissions, most of the population still uses their own car for a large part of their trips – and only 0.5% use a bicycle. In light of this scenario, the country has an ambition: to pedal 15 times more by 2030 (reaching 7.5%), contributing to the decarbonization of mobility.
It was in this context that the National Strategy for Active Cycling Mobility 2020-2030 (EMNAC 2020-2030) emerged, a government commitment that rests on three major areas of action: promoting public transport, electrifying vehicles and moving users to more sustainable and active modes of travel, such as cycling and walking.
In total, there are 51 measures (see the Box in italics at the end of the text) that include cultural, environmental, educational and legislative changes. These are divided into four cross-cutting areas – framing and legislation, research and development, monitoring and evaluation, and funding – and into three specific intervention axes – infrastructures and intermodality, capacity building and support, and culture and behaviours.
The document foresees that EMNAC 2020-2030 will place Portugal at the level of other countries where this practice is already rooted, “allowing maximisation of health benefits for populations, removing cars from streets, reclaiming public space, easing urban congestion, lowering noise levels and reducing air pollution,” enabling a 40% reduction in carbon dioxide by the end of the decade.
Furthermore, it contemplates the reduction of bicycle-related casualties by 25% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030. Questioned about the state of this strategy, MUBi – Association for Urban Cycling Mobility – explains that Green Savers has “repeatedly warned” that ENMAC 2020-2030 continues “without political leadership, without human and financial resources and, more than five years after its publication, without even a calendarized and budgeted action plan.”
According to Rui Igreja, Coordinator of the Public Policy Nucleus of MUBi, the strategy “will largely miss all intermediate targets for 2025.” On the other hand, he adds, “and perhaps also due to the broad recognition by the Assembly of the Republic of the urgency of government action on this matter,” the implementation of ENMAC “is included in the electoral programs of practically all parties currently represented in Parliament, including the PSD and the PS.” One of them “will certainly form the Government after the legislative elections, and we hope that these intentions will not again fall into the realm of empty words,” he notes.
For him, the Social Plan for Climate, for example, which Portugal must deliver to Brussels by the end of June to access a €1.6 billion package aimed at fighting energy poverty and mobility, “constitutes an opportunity to extend some ENMAC measures specifically to social groups with lower incomes, helping to improve accessibility and reduce transport costs.”
Bold measures are lacking
MUBi has continually warned about the lack of “bold” measures to prevent tragedies such as the fatal pedestrian accidents of Pedro Sobral and Patrizia Paradiso. They were run over on the same avenue in Belém, Lisbon. Since the beginning of the year, four people riding bicycles on national roads have died across the country. This number is “too high” and led Vera Diogo, president of MUBi, to leave, on TSF, the “alert” and to press for “a change that is necessary, fundamental and that should have happened decades ago.”
And what measures are these? Rui Igreja leaves no doubt: “Portuguese towns must put the safety and well-being of all people ahead of the speed of cars.”
These measures, he explains, involve lowering the maximum speed as much as possible within localities (where motor vehicles coexist with pedestrians and cyclists) to 30 km/h, and even lower values near schools and residential areas.
However, he warns, “laws and signage are not enough; it also requires more diligent and consistent enforcement of behaviours in the operation of motorized vehicles that may endanger the physical integrity of other people. It also requires promoting the use of active modes and public transport in place of polluting vehicles that endanger other users of gentler modes.”
Data on accidents are scarce
In fact, across the country, the consequences of road insecurity have been worsening, with the number of crashes involving bicycles and fatalities also rising. How can this situation be reversed? “Unfortunately, in Portugal there is a chronic lack of data on mobility and accident rates,” responds Rui Igreja. For example, “we do not know whether the increase in bicycle-related accidents stems from greater road danger or from the growth in the use of bicycles as a form of transport and recreation,” he explains.
Nevertheless, for the official, the recorded numbers “are unacceptable, and we are completely failing” the targets of the National Strategy for Active Cycling Mobility (ENMAC) 2020-2030 and the Zero Vision 2030, aiming to halve bicycle-related injuries and fatalities by 2030, compared with early-decade values.
Portugal is also one of the European countries with the highest rates of local-road traffic injuries and one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates.
“Our leaders must stop looking the other way, recognize the seriousness of the problem and the gap that separates us from our European neighbors as a result of political inaction on this matter, and roll up their sleeves to implement road danger reduction measures,” declares Rui Igreja.
The country is also the second in the EU that least chooses the bicycle as the main means of transport and has one of the lowest ratios of cycle lanes to road length in the country.
Still, will people give up cycling due to lack of safety? Rui Igreja reveals that the Portuguese Government is the one that has invested the least in bicycle mobility in all of Europe, with only 30 eurocents per capita per year, 10 times less than countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, and 120 times less than Ireland. In terms of infrastructure, Portugal is also among European countries with the smallest extent of dedicated bike lanes relative to the length of the road network, only 1.4%. Neighboring Spain has almost triple, Hungary seven times more, Belgium 22 times more and the Netherlands 50 times more.
“The lack of safety and comfort is, certainly, one of the main barriers to bicycle use, especially for those who do not yet ride regularly and who are the ones we need to attract to this mode of transport,” he underscores.
However, he adds, just as cars do not travel only on highways, bicycles do not ride only on bike lanes, and “it is necessary that the entire urban network and other routes be safe for all people, including obviously and mainly those who walk and ride a bicycle, who do not have a metal shell around them.”
Lack of criteria in bike lanes
Asked about how bike lanes are being created in several cities in the country, MUBi’s public policy coordinator says that, among the “few” that exist in most Portuguese cities, “they still lack network effect, coherence and continuity.”
In a large part of them, the fundamental safety criterion is even missing, leaving users at intersections – which are the most dangerous places. Many are placed on sidewalks, which is “unacceptable,” he notes. For Rui Igreja, this often happens because the investment priority “was and continues to be not to take space away from cars, and other privileges, instead of promoting the use of bicycles with the aim of reducing the need to use cars.”
The regional programs of Portugal 2030 have about €20 million per year for the creation of urban bike routes. They amount to roughly €65,000 per year per municipality (by comparison, only a roundabout in Aveiro cost more than €2 million), which will have to be supplemented by investments from the municipalities and possibly also from the State Budget.
“It is very important that municipalities do not repeat past mistakes of squandering European funds. It would also be important in this respect that ENMAC be endowed with resources to collaborate with the Development and Cohesion Agency and with the CCDRs and to support and assist municipalities in this and other types of measures,” warns Rui Igreja.
So, what are MUBi’s demands for vibrant and accessible cities? At the 2021 municipal elections, the association produced a manifesto, which it reissued for this year’s elections, titled “Vibrant Cities: 10 measures to return cities to people” (see Box II).
The association argues that at least 10% of the total investment in the Climate Social Plan, or one third of the transport component, should be allocated to measures supporting active mobility, such as cycling and walking, including its coordination with public transport.
The Plan will be funded by the new European Union Climate Social Fund, created to support a just climate transition and, in particular, to mitigate the social and economic impacts of expanding the European emissions trading system to road transport and buildings.
Portugal could benefit from €1,631 million between 2026 and 2032, intended to support the most affected and vulnerable groups, such as households living in mobility poverty.
Investing in Active Mobility
Active modes of travel – such as walking and using a bicycle – are the most economical, healthy and inclusive forms of mobility. The bicycle, including electric-assisted versions, can easily be made available to people of all ages and abilities — both in urban contexts, as well as peri-urban and rural contexts —, contributing also to expanding the reach of public transport.
For MUBi, active mobility “is an effective, low-cost solution with numerous health, quality of life and environmental benefits. Unlike the car, it does not require large and expensive infrastructures nor does it entail high acquisition and operation costs.”
However, many people in vulnerable situations continue to be limited in their right to mobility: they do not own a car, live in areas with weak public transport coverage, face increased road insecurity and economic difficulties even to acquire a bicycle.
The Climate Social Plan “must, therefore, include measures that make active mobility a real, safe and accessible option for all people — with special attention to those living in disadvantaged areas or at risk of mobility poverty.”
MUBi considers that the Climate Social Plan represents a “opportunity to democratise access to sustainable mobility and to build more just and resilient communities.”
“This is a decisive moment to ensure that no one is left behind in the ecological transition. This Plan represents a concrete opportunity to take meaningful steps towards a mobility model less dependent on cars and fossil fuels. With simple and well-directed measures, we can reach more people, reduce emissions and improve the quality of life in communities,” concludes Rui Igreja.
Some measures foreseen in ENMAC
- Build bike lanes, increasing from 2,000 to 10,000 km by 2030;
- Develop awareness campaigns and training actions to increase safety and compatibility among the various types of vehicles on public roads;
- Review and publish the Traffic Signaling Regulation and refine the Highway Code to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists;
- Massively install bicycle parking and ensure minimum ratios of parking spaces in public and private buildings, and in public spaces;
- Implement public bike-sharing systems;
- Promote the national meeting “Active Mobility Summit” to empower decision-makers;
- Apply incentive and promotion measures aimed at low-emission vehicles, including for workers and in the purchase of urban-profile electric bicycles (considered the best alternative to replace the car).
*Article originally published in the June 2025 print edition
