Audit and Planning of Lisbon’s Cycling Network

Best‑practice description
Lisbon’s cycling network, launched in 2017, has expanded rapidly but has suffered from uneven maintenance and fragmented implementation. To ensure continuity and effectiveness, the City Council (CML) commissioned an external technical audit (produced by Copenhagenize France for CML). The audit applied internationally recognised quality criteria—safety, connectivity, comfort, coherence, directness, attractiveness, intermodality, and reliability—to evaluate existing infrastructure and identify shortcomings.

Key outcomes:

• A prioritized list of interventions based on the criteria above.
• Standard design solutions for future works.
• A capacity‑building workshop for municipal staff to harmonise procedures and strengthen operational skills.

The audit enabled a dual strategic approach: (1) advancing the expansion of the network and (2) implementing a maintenance and upgrade plan for the existing infrastructure, including signage, vertical markings, and traffic‑signal management. “Desire lines” from users were incorporated to pinpoint missing links, resulting in a comprehensive five‑year development plan aligned with a maintenance strategy for a sustainable cycling ecosystem in Lisbon.

Evidence of success / impact

• Approval of the cycling‑network plan in May 2024 marked a milestone for Lisbon’s sustainable‑mobility agenda.
• In the first year of implementation, 69.65 km of new cycling infrastructure were completed, markedly improving coverage and connectivity.
• The maintenance and conservation plan for the existing network was launched concurrently.
• Preliminary counts from city sensors show a rising trend in cyclists. The Lisbon SUMP Report records a 4.89 % increase in trips on the city’s shared‑bike system (GIRA) in 2024 (2 910 600 trips) versus 2023 (2 774 909 trips).

These early indicators demonstrate that expanding and improving the cycling network directly contributes to growing demand for active‑mobility modes.

Key lessons learned

• Systematic auditing using clear quality criteria is essential to expose inconsistencies in maintenance, fragmented development, and missing links that hinder safety and connectivity.
• User‑centred planning—integrating “desire lines”—aligns infrastructure with actual mobility needs and helps prioritise missing connections.
• Standardised design solutions and a capacity‑building workshop boost technical consistency across municipal teams and improve long‑term network management.
• Ongoing regular maintenance, phased and coherent expansion, and structured user engagement are critical for sustaining network performance.
• Securing stable funding and strengthening inter‑departmental coordination are vital to translate audit recommendations into lasting improvements.