Province of Utrecht gains insight into air quality through mobile sensors

In The Netherlands, almost a quarter of our trips are done by bicycle. Still there is room for much more taking this sustainable transportation option, instead of using the car. The Dutch Governments wants to support this change.

The government is starting the Tour de Force program in collaboration with Provinces and Municipalities. With this program they want to increase the number of bicycle kilometers in The Netherlands by 20 percent over the next ten years. Within this program, the authorities look at what the main challenges are to make cycling attractive.

The Province of Utrecht is starting the Green Bicycle project. The Province wants to map frequently used bicycle routes and measure air quality through mobile sensors on bicycles.

Effective policies

The project aims to use the data and insights that become available to develop more effective policies. So that residents of the province of Utrecht use their bicycle more often. The sensors for this project are provided by SODAQ. They use the sensors to measure the particulate matter level, temperature, humidity and GPS locations. The information from the sensors is stored on the Civity data platform and used for the development of the dashboard.

The first volunteers in Zeist after handing out the sensors in June 2019

Moving forward

The first phase of the project will continue until end of 2018. If successful, the province wants to expand the project and involve more citizens. With a better understanding of the bicycle routes and air quality, the province of Utrecht can take more effective measures to improve bicycle quality. And that would motivate citizens again to use the bike more often.

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