Bicycle Counters

Good planning requires collecting and understanding data. Bicycle counters provide valuable data. We currently have five bicycle counting devices in Bratislava and plan to install more soon. The figures so far suggest a significant increase in the number of people using bicycles as a means of transport.

What types of bicycle counters do we have and where are they located?

In 2015, we installed induction counters:

  • In Devínská Nová Ves near the Cycling Bridge of Freedom
    • this mainly shows us the number of recreational cyclists
  • On Viedenská Road (Open Data Bratislava ↗︎)
    • this counts the number of Bratislava commuters it also counts the number of cyclists on the Eurovelo 6 route

In 2020, we installed the latest generation of bicycle counters with an LED screen to let residents know how many cyclists are passing through their area at these locations:

  • on the Old Bridge
  • on the Nábrežie armádneho generála Ludvíka Svoboda /Dvořákovo námestie
  • on Devínská Road – traffic is recorded by a mobile counter - this is used as needed whenever we need to carry out a longer-term traffic survey

What information do the counters collect?

  • They analyse different types of transport – not only bicycles but also data on pedestrians, cars, trucks and other vehicles.
  • They are more versatile than previous counters as they are fitted with different sensors – e.g. dust sensors.

The basic principle

The detection of cyclists is based on a machine-learning model, which is the way the counters function. The model can subsequently be extended with other detection options for cars, trucks and other vehicles. Detection is performed directly on the device using high-performance special hardware.

The data collected by the detection algorithm is then centralised and shared via an API for further processing