The Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT) Portugal is a research project that aims to develop a national evidence-base and transport planning online tool to prioritize investments in active transport.

Planning of the infrastructure needed to change mobility patterns requires high-quality evidence. Data and models are needed to ensure cost-effective investment, enabling new infrastructure to be planned where it is most needed. In the case of cycling, the transport mode that has the greatest potential to replace unnecessary and unhealthy short car trips into urban centres, this means designing efficient cycleways and safe street connections. The PCT aggregates official information and models bike usage scenarios, to inform decision-makers of which infrastructures have the greatest potential impact in changing behavior, and assist planners to meet sustainability commitments.

 

 

This project will boost the research network and bilateral collaboration between the U-Shift lab of CERIS (Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability) of Instituto Superior Técnico and the ITS (Institute for Transport Studies) of University of Leeds, gathering Rosa Félix, Robin Lovelace, and Filipe Moura.

 

In September 2020 we organized a Cycling Potential Hackathon on reproducible methods for estimating cycling potential, based on a case study of Lisbon, with about 30 participants from different countries.