The Floating Bike Data Playbook

Collected from GPS-enabled devices such as smartphones and connected bikes, FBD provides continuous, network-wide insights into where, when, and how people cycle. Yet FBD comes with challenges. Data quality varies, samples may not be representative, and methods differ across providers. Without guidance, cities risk misinterpreting results or investing in tools that do not match their policy needs.

The Floating Bike Data Playbook, developed by Casper Van Gheluwe, Sofie De Lancker, and Evelien Marlier for MegaBITS, provides a practical framework for turning cycling data into action. It explains how to assess when FBD adds value, outlines potential and real-world use cases, and highlights limitations to avoid common pitfalls. The playbook also guides public authorities on data acquisition and project design, including best practices, required skills, data sources, and procurement considerations. By connecting data with concrete policy questions, it emphasizes that FBD is not an end in itself and clarifies when it is appropriate and when other methods suffice through several use cases. 

Among these use cases, one real-world example comes from the municipality of Enschede in the Netherlands.The city launched the mobility app “SMART” in 2012, later rebranded as Enschede Fietst, to encourage a shift from car use to cycling without building new infrastructure. The app automatically tracks trips, including route choice, travel times, stops, and speeds, and rewards users through vouchers and challenges, engaging around 2,000 daily active users. Data collected through the app was combined with fixed counters, behavioural surveys, and weather data to evaluate the impact of traffic plans and cycling infrastructure, providing policymakers with insights on network performance, peak flows, and modal shifts. This allowed Enschede to monitor real-world cycling behaviour, optimize traffic light prioritisation for cyclists, and assess the effectiveness of the interventions, demonstrating the value of floating bike data for evidence-based policy. In 2026 the local app will be replaced by the national platform Da’s Zo Gefietst, continuing citizen participation in data collection.

Through the Playbook, the readers will be able to discover all the different ways in which floating bike data is used to understand cycling behaviour across cities, including route choice, travel patterns, peak flows, safety concerns, and network performance and how this supports policy making by providing evidence for infrastructure planning, evaluating the impact of traffic measures, optimizing traffic management, and designing behavioural interventions.

Floating bike data is most effective when integrated into broader mobility strategies, combined with local knowledge, and interpreted by multidisciplinary teams. By sharing lessons, standardizing approaches, and fostering partnerships between cities, data providers, and researchers, public authorities can maximize the impact of FBD and ensure that cycling policies evolve in step with real-world behaviour.

Floating bike data is a powerful tool, but only if used wisely. This playbook shows how cities can transform digital traces into actionable insights and make smarter evidence-based decisions for cycling.