- 65% of Thessaloniki’s bike lanes are rated high or very high risk
- Only 1.3% considered low risk
- 13.8 km of lanes analyzed by IMET/CERTH researchers
- The Lane Patrol app is used to collect data every 10 meters
- Off-road coastal paths proved far safer
Cycling in Thessaloniki is not for the faint of heart — it is an extreme sport disguised as sustainable mobility. According to the Institute of Sustainable Mobility and Transport Networks (IMET/CERTH), more than 65% of the city’s bike lanes are classified as high- or very-high-risk. The remaining 35% are merely a polite way of saying, “Good luck.”
The researchers — brave souls with clipboards and helmets — inspected 13.8 kilometers of the city’s cycling “network.” Network is a generous term. Picture a puzzle of painted lines occasionally interrupted by parked cars, café tables, or the occasional wandering scooter.
The data, collected every 10 meters using the Lane Patrol app, revealed that:
- 48.7% of the routes are high risk,
- 17.5% very high, and
- 1.3% safe enough to text your mother while riding.
The few genuinely safe stretches are the off-road routes along the sea — proof that if you remove cars (and sometimes Thessalonians), miracles happen.
Presented at the 12th International Conference on Transport Research, the study is part of the JULIA project, which sounds more romantic than it is. JULIA is not a person; it is the reason someone finally admitted that Thessaloniki’s bike lanes are glorified curb decorations.
A working group is now preparing “recommendations.” The word implies there is hope, or at least a PowerPoint presentation on how not to die at intersections.
Local cyclists, meanwhile, continue their daily pilgrimage between potholes, taxis, and existential dread. The dream of sustainable mobility survives mainly on caffeine and irony.
In Thessaloniki, cycling is an act of faith, and bike lanes are the modern equivalent of ancient trials: survive the ride, and the city grants you enlightenment — or at least a view of the Thermaic Gulf.
