The “Bike to Work 2025” city award goes to Pardubice. The “Cycling Achiever of the Year” is Jihlava.

Participants of this year’s May “Bike to Work” Challenge, whether by bike, on foot, or jogging, voted for their candidates for the title of Cycling City of the Year 2025. From the questionnaires they filled out, combined with the CykloRank tool, which compares the ratio of motorized to non-motorized infrastructure, it was determined that this year the title goes to Pardubice in eastern Bohemia.

The result of the survey is thus a combination of the subjective evaluation of infrastructure users and the exact data provided by CykloRank. The highest score, 61.4 points, was achieved by last year’s titleholder, Otrokovice, which now moves into the Hall of Fame. Pardubice, receiving the Cycling City of the Year title for the first time, closely followed with 61.2 points. Respondents particularly appreciated that cycling in Pardubice feels relatively safe, that more two-way bike lanes and traffic-calmed areas are gradually being created, and the political support for sustainable transport. Congratulations to Pardubice!

Cycling Achiever of the Year is Jihlava

The title of Cycling Achiever of the Year 2025, awarded to the city that has made the greatest progress in infrastructure in recent years, goes to Jihlava. The Vysočina metropolis rose four places compared to last year, moving from sixth to second place, with a score of 60.3 points. “We are very happy that sustainable transport has found its place in our cities and continues to grow,” says Lucie Rýzlerová, head of the Bike to Work Challenge at AutoMat.

Biketower in front of Pardubice train station. Photo: mapy.cz

Empirical insights and data

The May “Bike to Work” Challenge 2025 involved 23,000 participants from across the Czech Republic, 56 cities, and over 2,000 companies and institutions that want to support their employees in sustainable transport. The title of Cycling City of the Year is based on their experiences with infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. Since 2023, this evaluation has been complemented by the CykloRank assessment, which compares how individual cities support cycling. Using open data, it analyzes the extent of cycling infrastructure. The evaluation includes 128 Czech cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The ranking is published by the magazine Městem na kole in cooperation with the Bike to Work Challenge and the association Plzeň na kole.

Cities for safe mobility

“Safe infrastructure for non-motorized transport in cities is a prerequisite for safe pedestrian and cycling traffic. Every city that cares about the quality of the environment and the lives of its residents should strive for it,” continues Rýzlerová. With this appeal, and in response to last year’s fatal accident of a cyclist near Prague’s Eden, AutoMat together with the independent Initiative 0 launched the Call Zero. This initiative is based on the Swedish Vision Zero concept, whose goal is zero fatalities in traffic accidents.

More information at dopracenakole.cz 

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