Our requirements - Uppsala as a cycling city

Cycling is by far the most efficient and cheap way for many students to get around Uppsala. Nevertheless, there are still some parts of the infrastructure that are not up to scratch. Uppsala Student Union is therefore going out with three requirements for measures that need to be taken in order for Uppsala to become the country's best cycling city for us students.

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We demand:

Regular seasonal maintenance of the city's cycle paths. 

More bike racks in central Uppsala.

More car-free zones in the city center.

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Every winter puts enormous wear and tear on the road network, and cycle paths are no exception. During winter, cycle paths also need to be plowed, sanded or salted to ensure that they are suitable for cycling even in severe winter weather conditions. The gravel used to reduce the risk of slipping must be swept away when the snow has thawed, so as not to risk causing new accidents due to gravel. However, this is not always done, and Uppsala municipality must therefore improve its road maintenance work - regardless of the time of year. The cycle paths should be usable regardless of the weather, and therefore Uppsala Student Union requires regular seasonal maintenance of Uppsala's cycle paths.

During the last parliamentary term, Uppsala municipality decided to vote through a motion to reduce the number of bicycle stands in central Uppsala. Our message now is as clear as it was then - don't touch our bike racks. Instead, we want to see an increase in the number of bike racks in central Uppsala, and especially in connection with campus and nation areas.

Uppsala has long had problems with an overly car-dense inner city, which exists at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists. Instead, we want to see an investment in car-free zones, to make Uppsala accessible to all the city's students. In addition, many of the city's ancient nation houses are sensitive to vibrations, and would therefore benefit from reduced car traffic in their vicinity. We believe that the only reasonable approach in this growing student city is to take the streets back to the cyclists, and with it to the students.

In dialog meetings with the municipality, together with Cykelfrämjandet and others, we have raised the need to invest in bicycle traffic. This has been done, among other things, through reference group meetings prior to the development of the municipality's new inner city strategy and through meetings with the municipality's bicycle council. The response has been good, but not enough. Therefore, we now demand an increased investment, where the municipality goes from words to action.

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