De organisatie die de top 20 fietssteden heeft opgesteld is een club uit Kopenhagen. Daarbij kan je jezelf dus afvragen hoe betrouwbaar het onderzoek eigenlijk is. De organisatie heeft op hun website een FAQ sectie. Hierin worden veelgestelde vragen beantwoord. Daar staat onder andere dit bij:
"Wait… Copenhagen is #1 and it’s the Copenhagenize Index. Hmm.
You probably said that with a Dutch accent, didn’t you? Funny, we didn’t hear a peep from you when Amsterdam was at #1 for two consecutive Indexes. Fortunately, the company name is irrelevant to the final ranking, since we are professionals."
Amsterdam is dus in voorgaande jaren 2x nummer 1 geweest. Maar hoezo is de hoofdstad van Nederland nu opeens door Utrecht en Kopenhagen ingehaald? De site geeft aan met welke indicatoren ze de steden rangschikken:
Advocacy:
How is the city's (or region/country) advocacy NGO(s) regarded and what level of influence does it have?
Rated from no organised advocacy to strong advocacy with political influence.
Bicycle Culture:
Has the bicycle reestablished itself as transport among regular citizens or only sub-cultures?
Rated from no bicycles on the urban landscape/only sporty cyclists to mainstream acceptance of the bicycle.
Bicycle Facilities:
Are there readily accessible bike racks, ramps on stairs, space allocated on trains and buses and well-designed wayfinding, etc?
Rated from no bicycle facilities available to widespread and innovative facilities.
Bicycle Infrastructure:
How does the city's bicycle infrastructure rate?
Rated from no infrastructure/cyclists relegated to using car lanes to high level of safe, separated cycle tracks.
Bike Share Programme:
Does the city have a comprehensive and well-used bike-sharing programme?
Rated from no bike share programme to comprehensive, high-usage programme.
Gender Split
What percentage of the city's cyclists are male and female?
Rated from overwhelming male to an even gender split or more women than men cycling.
Modal Share For Bicycles:
What percentage of modal share is made up by cyclists?
Rated from under 1% to over 25%.
Modal Share Increase Since 2006:
What has the increase in modal share been since 2006 - the year that urban cycling started to kick off?
Rated from under 1% to 5%+.
Perception of Safety:
Is the perception of safety of the cyclists in the city, reflected in helmet-wearing rates, positive or are cyclists riding scared due to helmet promotion and scare campaigns?
Rated from mandatory helmet laws with constant promotion of helmets to low helmet-usage rate.
Politics:
What is the political climate regarding urban cycling?
Rated from the bicycle being non-existent on a political level to active and passionate political involvement.
Social Acceptance:
How do drivers and the community at large regard urban cyclists?
Rated from no social acceptance to widespread social acceptance.
Urban Planning:
How much emphasis do the city's planners place on bicycle infrastructure - and are they well-informed about international best practice?
Rated from car-centric urban planners to planners who think bicycle - and pedestrian - first.
Traffic Calming:
What efforts have been made to lower speed limits - for example 30 km/h zones - and generally calm traffic in order to provide greater safety to pedestrians and cyclists?
Rated from none at all to extensive traffic-calming measures prioritising cyclists and pedestrians in the traffic hierarchy.
Cargo Bikes and Logistics: Is the city embracing the potential of cargo bikes - both for private citizens and businesses? Rated from no focus on cargo bikes to a strong cargo bike and logistics culture.
Weglaten van belangrijke fietssteden
Het onderzoek lijkt dus eerlijk, maar toch geeft de site toe dat ze de stad Eindhoven bewust uit de lijst hebben gelaten. Dit doen ze om te voorkomen dat de lijst alleen maar uit Nederlandse steden bestaat:
"It's fair enough if you're wondering where Eindhoven went. Each time around we make minor adjustments to the city list and we felt it was disproportionate to have three cities from a small country. We would love to rank every city in the world but if we did the list would be nothing but Dutch cities accompanied by Danish and some German."
Al met al is het onderzoek uitgevoerd met duidelijke indicatoren. Dat neemt niet weg dat er steden zijn weggelaten omdat de lijst anders te Nederlands zou worden. Een accuratere lijst zou dus meer Nederlandse steden in zich moeten hebben. Ze hebben er echter voor gekozen om ook steden uit andere landen te belichten.