The Charter of Seville is the most recent policy document launched by ECF at the Velo-city 2011 conference in Seville, Spain. The document underlines the benefits of cycling as a daily mode of transport, citing improved health, reduced traffic congestion, significantly cheaper infrastructure, and lowered transport emissions among many other advantages.

The charter specifically calls upon all Ministers of Transport convening at the International Transport Forum (ITF) in Lepzig in May, 2011 “to promote cycling at international level and to invest substantially in cycling in their own countries during the years to come”.

ECF Secretary General, Bernard Ensink, unveiled the pioneering document at the closing session of the 2011 Velo-city conference on the 25th of March, 2011.

On the occasion of the Velo-city 2011 conference in Seville, the ECF and the city of Seville address this document to
all Ministers of Transport, especially those who will meet at the International Transport Forum on ‘Transport for Society’
in Leipzig in May 2011.

Whereas:
- the International Transport Forum 2011 focuses on the bene.ts of transport for individuals and societies
- the Velo-city 2011 Seville conference showed (as all former Velo-city conferences since 1983 have done) the huge
potential and the numerous bene.ts of cycling

The signatories of this declaration ask all Ministers of Transport to acknowledge the following advantages of cycling as
a daily mode of transport and for leisure activities:

1. Cycling o.ers a.ordable access to transport for most people, ensuring equitable inclusion.

2. More cycling helps meet society’s demand to cater for tighter budgets.

3. More cycling improves the impact of transport on the environment and on people’s physical and mental health.

4. Cycling (like walking) is a zero-emission mode of transport which avoids the by-products of individual motorised
transport: air pollution, noise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.

5. Cycling reduces the human costs of transport as it causes less danger on the roads than individual motorised
transport.

6. More cycling reduces traffi.c congestion and leads to a more efficient use of space for transport. Cycling cities have
higher quality public space in general.

7. Modern public bicycle sharing systems improve the quality of public transport in cities.

8. Cycling in cities, towns, villages and other urban areas, in combination with public transport for long distances
(between cities, towns, villages and other urban areas) is a sustainable way to meet people's mobility needs.

9. Safe and comfortable infrastructure for cycling enables young and elderly people to be mobile by using a healthy
and environmentally friendly mode of transport.

10. Electrically assisted bicycles (variously known as pedelecs, e-bicycles, e-velos) give more people access to sustainable e-mobility than any other means of transport;

11. The potential of bicycles for transporting goods within cities and towns is often underestimated; a huge range of
transport bikes could be used much more if the authorities were to create better conditions for this mode of transport.

12. Cycling is a resilient and robust mode of transport. This is an advantage in the event of breakdowns in energy supply
networks and oil supply shortages; more cycling makes society less dependent on oil.

13. It is cheaper to invest in cycling infrastructure than in infrastructure for individual motorised transport. Integral cost
calculations (including the health, environmental, social and economic costs and bene.ts) show that there is a high
return on investments in cycling.

14. Bicycle user associations are ready to organise and to improve the role of individuals in the transport planning
process.

15. Nowadays many cities are moving away from car-oriented transport policies and towards the concept of ‘cities for
people’ by prioritising walking, cycling and public transport. Now they need the support of their national authorities.

Charter of Seville (pdf)

Source: ECF