Bureaucracy: Helsinki Spent More Than €80,000 on a Cycling Program That Concluded Cycling Should Be Encouraged

Helsinki has approved a 76-page cycling development program that identifies encouraging people to cycle as one of its key measures. The city wants to substantially increase cycling between 2026 and 2029.

The program says the main ways to reach that goal are to improve cycling conditions and encourage and teach people to ride bicycles. Dozens of employees worked on its preparation, and Helsinki also paid more than €80,000 for outside consulting.

Carlos Lamuela Orta, a researcher who has studied cycling in Helsinki, said the program would not help the city achieve its cycling target. In his view, the new plan is simply an old strategy updated for a new period.

The program's central measures therefore include encouraging cycling, even after the city devoted extensive staff work and consulting funds to its preparation.