Cycling issues
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M considers cycling to be an undervalued political issue that is important for growth, climate, and public health 1. The party believes that cycling creates jobs within the tourism industry and contributes to everyday exercise for both children and the elderly 1. M emphasizes the importance of coherent cycle paths and safety in traffic to promote freedom and health 1. The party wants to simplify rules for building cycle paths along state roads and argues that cycling infrastructure is an important part of investments in infrastructure 1. M sees cycling as a complement to other means of transport and an important part of creating opportunities for more ways to travel 1.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Ann-Sofie Lifvenhage (M)
Madam Speaker! There are a number of occasions in life that etch themselves into your memory, feelings that can almost be relived even though some time has passed. I remember my first bicycle. It was turquoise. It is the 80s, and mom and dad have bought it used from an advertisement. It is super nice, and I am so proud that I almost burst when it finally comes loose, after much struggling. It is on the gravel road below Högalid and on the turning area outside Kåbe Maskiner. Finally, it worked – what a feeling!
It is powerful that when it finally sits, then it sits there for the rest of life. How many are there who struggle and struggle with their children, and how many films have we not with our little ones - in the beginning it goes a bit wobbly, but relatively quickly it goes straight ahead just by the speed. It is one of the first times in life one gets to experience total freedom and the feeling of almost being able to fly forward.
When we discuss cycling issues today, it is an area that is somewhat overlooked and rendered invisible politically. Issues regarding coherent cycle paths and good safety for cyclists in traffic tend to fall a bit into the shadows in the infrastructure debate. Large and important issues regarding roads, new rail traffic and the development of aviation take up most of the media space due to their political and economic size.
Madam Speaker! Cycling is often regarded as something pleasant that one does in their spare time, on vacation, or to and from work during the bright part of the year. It is not a subject we immediately associate with investments, growth, climate, and public health issues. I think that is a pity, because cycling is precisely about investments, growth, climate, and public health – large and broad political issues with implications for the future where cycling is included as one of several important parts.
Madam Speaker! A study from England estimates that the total market for cycle tourism within the European countries amounts to 140 billion Swedish kronor. It is a significant portion, and it is furthermore increasing with a wide range of package tours with experiences and stops along the way. Vätternrundan attracts around 23,000 participants who bring along family and friends. They eat, stay, shop, experience, and create memories. This, in turn, provides opportunities for jobs within the important tourism industry, often so-called simple jobs that many times become young people's entry into the working life.
We see how this tourism also increases the sales of increasingly advanced bicycles, accessories to increase safety, and details to make the journey even more enjoyable. We also see various forms of activities where the mountain world's tourism is at the forefront when it comes to offering tourists everything from downhill to mountain bike tracks during the summer. At the same time, multisport competitions are emerging, where Iron Man is the best known. Cycling is jobs and growth.
Madam Speaker! Studies show that our expected life expectancy and health depend for half on genes and for half on lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with going to the gym, doing interval training up a slalom hill, or running a marathon, nor is there anything wrong with eating a very advanced health food. But from a public health perspective, it is the vast majority's ability to eat sensibly in moderate amounts as well as get daily exercise that truly makes a difference. This is where the bicycle comes in for those who do not have time to squeeze in yoga or 10,000 meters of swimming among the fetching, dropping off, unloading, cleaning, sniffing, and tooth-brushing. A moderately brisk cycle to and from work is sufficient and enough, according to research, to keep the body moving and prevent lifestyle diseases linked to, among other things, cardiovascular diseases. Win-win, I say!
Madam Speaker! That children and young people have the opportunity to cycle to school and activities is important, not least since research clearly shows reduced physical activity among certain groups of children and young people. Increased cycling obviously does not solve all problems, but everyday exercise is an important part of long-term good health. In this context, it is important to highlight the importance of parents being able to feel security that their children can travel safely to school and activities. It is important for cyclists to avoid the scary feeling of exposed insecurity that it entails to share the road with cars, buses, and trucks with minimal shoulder. With the development of electric bicycles, we see that more and more people, regardless of age or any ailments, are given the opportunity to have the bicycle as a means of transport.
Against this background, the construction of coherent cycle paths is important. It also creates conditions for more people to be able to get out from, for example, the elderly housing and, for example, with the help of volunteers, get a ride in the fantastic cycle taxi, which you have surely seen. Even though the legs no longer carry, one can feel the wonderful sensation when the wind caresses the cheek and the hair stands on end.
We Moderates will take into the government work the task of reviewing how state and municipality can jointly strengthen cycling in these areas. Cycling is an important public health issue, both for old and young.
Madam Speaker! When we invest in infrastructure, cycle paths need to be included as an important part. What the cycling infrastructure needs is regulatory simplifications, for example, to ease the possibilities to build next to state roads or to procure locally in cooperation with Trafikverket. Today, all these obstacles are in the way of investments here and now.
Here in Sörmland, we have seen how year after year a cycle path between Björnlunda and Gnesta has been proposed, and how ÅVSs, and other more or less impossible abbreviations, have been investigated and appointed without, for that matter, reaching completion. The frustration is almost palpable, as my local Centre Party colleague Ingalill Fredriksson would have expressed it.
What cycling does not need is to be set against other types of traffic. Cycling is perfectly excellent for traveling a few miles on a daily basis to and from school or work or as a simple form of exercise.
Furthermore, I would so very much like to inaugurate the cycle path to Björnlunda together with Ingalill and exclaim "Finally!".
Cycling and investments in new infrastructure for cycling are important. It provides better public health, is climate-smart, and creates a complement to other ways of transporting oneself. For me and the Moderaterna, cycling is not about a contradiction where one is for or against, but about an important part of creating opportunities for more and more ways to travel: different types of journeys, on different days and in different ways. It is convenient and full of possibilities - freedom, quite simply.
Madam Speaker! Finally: The number of bicycle trips is over 700 million, which means that over every eighth trip is made by bicycle. This is good from the perspective of both growth, public health, and climate. Cycling does not alone bear the solution to a single societal problem, but it bears pieces of the solution to challenges linked to both new jobs as well as congestion, public health, and climate. It is important to understand. Cycling is an undervalued political issue and actually deserves to be lifted with something a little more enthusiasm, similar to the one we have when we follow our children on their way toward the freedom to zoom ahead and feel the wind in their hair. It is freedom for real.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.