The return of students and sunny late summer weather led to a notable increase in cycling traffic in Ghent at the end of September. At the city's 14 bicycle counting posts, an average of 110,956 cyclists were counted daily during the fourth week of September. This represents a 33 percent increase compared to the second week of September (83,388 cyclists) and 16 percent more than in the same period last year (95,816 cyclists).
The largest increase was observed at the Isabellakaai, where the number of cyclists even doubled with a 103 percent rise. Other locations such as the Coupure (+50%), the Marie Sassepad (+52%), the Zuidparklaan (+46%), the Bijlokekaai (+45%), and the Louisa d’Havébrug (+39%) also showed a strong increase compared to the second week of September.
Furthermore, new daily records were broken at 8 out of the 14 counting posts. The Coupure saw the most remarkable performance, with 17,702 cyclists on Thursday, September 24th, an absolute daily record. The morning rush hour was also exceptionally busy; on Tuesday, September 22nd, between 8 and 9 AM, 2,418 cyclists passed the Coupure, averaging one cyclist every 1.5 seconds.
Other locations that broke records included the Dampoort (10,907 cyclists, +15.2%), the Kasteellaan (8,562 cyclists, +13.7%), and the Groendreef (10,456 cyclists, +9.1%).
Since this summer, Ghent's cycling data has also been included in FietsFlow, the platform of the Flemish provinces that aggregates cycling data from across Flanders. In September, 6 out of the 10 busiest cycling counting posts in Flanders were located in Ghent.
