ROME – The bicycle, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, is making a strong comeback. The fear of contagion on the scarce and crowded means of public transport has increased the private use of cars and journeys on foot and by bicycle which in 2020 exceeded two million units sold (+ 17%). In short, Italians are changing their habits and as many as 26.6 million people have declared that they have sought a new means of transport, less polluting than the car (Audimob data). The increase in bicycles in circulation in 2020, in some virtuous cases, there was an strengthening of the cycle networks, as happened in Milan (+67 km), Venice (+18 km), Bologna (+16 km), Genoa ( +25 km), and Rome (+33 km).
However, despite the pandemic initially causing a decrease in traffic in cities, and therefore pollution, the smog emergency in Italy has not stopped. In fact, it is enough to look at the Legambiente data to find that out of 96 provincial capitals analyzed in 2020, 35 went beyond the limits established by the law for the daily concentration of fine dust (PM10) and 60 Italian cities (62% of the sample) registered an annual average higher than 20 µg / mc of fine dust compared to what indicated by the WHO. For its part, Narvalo, a spin off of the Politecnico di Milano, has created a mask capable of protecting the “urban commuters” from pollutants and pollen and carries out a 360-degree awareness project on the problem of pollution and on the new urban mobility. .
“In 2020 an interesting improvement in the rate of sustainable mobility emerged – underlined Venanzio Arquilla, founder of Narvalo – driven not only by the Mobility Bonus but also and above all by the awareness of the bicycle as a safe and alternative means of both public transport, to avoid gatherings , and for private car use, to limit traffic and CO2 emissions. At the same time, it allows you to move and stay healthy ”. A positive trend, according to the start-up institutional participant of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, demonstrated by the data on journeys made with low-impact vehicles: those on foot or by bike-micro-mobility increased on the average weekday from 24.1% in 2019 to 32.7% in the first ten months of 2020, with growth in absolute value estimated at 6%.
“Smog is an invisible killer that every year causes, in Italy alone, about 60,000 premature deaths – added Ewoud Westerduin, co-founder of Narvalo – With the summer reopenings, an increase in urban traffic must also be taken into account. It therefore remains essential, especially in an urban setting and in this historical moment, to travel by bicycle using devices capable of protecting the respiratory tract from pollution and keeping one’s health under control “. In this context, the masks made by Narvalo (also for sale online on the company’s website) represent an optimal solution for all urban cyclists who think about the environment without forgetting their health. In 30% of cases, according to a survey by the start-up, they are chosen and worn by urban cyclists who intend to protect themselves from pollutants during their daily bike journeys.
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