Brno is a city that feels compact. Most things are just a short distance away, which should make it a haven for cyclists. But ask any local, and the story gets a bit more complicated. While cycling has slowly crept into Brno’s urban identity, the infrastructure still isn’t quite there.
After previously exploring how to get started with biking in the city, Brno Daily set out to discover where the city stands on its cycling infrastructure, what the future holds, and what potential obstacles lie ahead.
The City’s Vision: Brno by Bike
Petr Gelnar, Brno’s cycling transport coordinator, sees cycling as a natural part of Brno’s urban transport, but he notes that it hasn’t always been that way. Bicycles were not always considered as a regular mode of transport during the decades of car- and public transport-centric planning.
The city is working to change that. “Our current cycling share is about 4% of all trips,” says Gelnar, “but the goal is to reach 12%.” Brno is drafting a new cycling strategy to support that shift, expected in spring 2026.
So far, the city has backed up its talk with action: in 2024 alone, Brno helped fund 100,000 bikeshare rides. Usage is growing by about 20% each year. Infrastructure projects are also in motion across the city; new segments of cycle paths have appeared along Renneská and Botanická streets, and construction continues along the Svratka River.
Still, progress is slow. “Many new bike-friendly projects are still in the preparation phase,” Gelnar admits. But the vision is clear: a connected city where safe, direct cycle routes link the centre with outlying districts.
Brno’s city councillor for transport, Petr Kratochvíl, who is a cyclist himself, believes in expanding the network and making it safer, and says this requires additional investment and supporting measures.
He notes that Brno is moving towards becoming a more bike-friendly city, but a lot of work is still to be done. While they have made good progress in systematically including cycling infrastructure in all street reconstruction projects, slow implementation, lengthy approval processes, and complex regulations often delay construction. In some cases, there is resistance from public authorities who are not yet fully aligned with the newer approach to urban mobility.
Kratochvíl also notes that in the near future, the city of Brno is prioritising the completion of key underpasses at Křenová, Pisárecká, and Veslařská, as well as working on new backbone cycling routes in the eastern parts of Brno, particularly in Líšeň and Pozořice. Like Gelnar, he also highlights the planned cycle path to Brno-Královo Pole train station, which, when completed, will significantly improve connectivity of northern parts of the city with the centre.
Cautious grass-roots optimism
Marek Ondrášek knows Brno’s streets well, not just from a bike seat. He works at Partnerství, o.p.s., a non-profit that supports sustainable tourism, tracks road usage, and develops cycling paths in South Moravia, including caring for the European EuroVelo network in the Czech Republic. He’s also closely involved in initiatives like Do práce na kole (‘To Work by Bike’), which encourages commuters to go to work by bike rather than by car. This initiative is held under the auspices of the Mayor of the city of Brno.
For Ondrášek, Brno’s approach to cycling has been “mostly positive, but slow”. He notes that bike paths are often included in city plans during road reconstruction, but not all of them end up materialising. While some projects like the new paths along the Svratka River stand out positively to him, Ondrášek sees the next five to ten years as critical, something of a litmus test of whether Brno is genuinely committed to its public statements.
Brno and the Czech Republic have many state-supported organisations, non-profits, and community groups who, according to Ondrášek, are doing a good job improving the state of infrastructure and positively influencing the wider public’s opinions on cycling. But sometimes working towards a more bike-friendly city from a community advocacy side can be frustrating. “Sometimes you can feel so demoralised, when you compare the public statements with the actual support received“, he says. In light of this, working from the bottom up rather than trying to influence the decision makers on the top has become his chosen approach, echoing the kind of local activism where you should become the change you want to see in the world.
No Easy Fixes
All three agree that Brno presents unique challenges. As a historic city, many streets weren’t made for bikes. “They were originally built for carts pulled by animals”, Ondrášek points out. That makes retrofitting narrow roads with modern bike lanes tricky, and sometimes politically contentious. Kratochvíl also notes that Brno is a geographically large city, so the cycling infrastructure is built gradually, section by section. While this approach is practical, it means that parts of the network are not yet well connected.
But Brno is finally gaining the tools it needs to build smarter. After going 13 years without a chief architect (the office was abolished by politicians in 2003 and reinstated in 2016), Brno’s planning has now been back under centralised coordination for less than a decade. Many of Brno’s larger projects have been left on the table to wait during the hiatus. The results, however, speak for themselves. Long-discussed projects like the new central train station are finally getting off the ground, albeit slowly, with an estimated date for its completion of 2034.
While no city is obliged to have a development strategy, Brno has started tackling its future developmental needs with a big-picture view. In 2024, the city secured €238 million from the European Investment Bank to support its urban infrastructure development, tied to Brno’s Vision 2050. This funding is directed towards urban mobility, flood protection, education, and culture, with cycling infrastructure playing a notable role.
The city’s Mobility Plan, also part of Vision 2050, aims to overhaul the city’s transport mix in the upcoming years. As of 2022, all trips taken in Brno comprised:
- 48% Public Transport
- 32% Personal Car
- 7% Walking
- 3% Cycling
- 10% Mixed Modes
By 2050, the city wants to change that picture to:
- 56% Public Transport
- 20% Personal Car
- 12% Walking
- 12% Cycling
This is a bold target that depends heavily on delivering real infrastructure in the coming years.
Building Pressure from Below
While the city pushes its strategies forward, it’s also up to residents and watchdogs to hold officials to their promises. That’s where organisations like Ondrášek’s come in. Partnerství collects data on cyclist and pedestrian traffic. Local advocacy groups like Brno na Kole (‘Brno on Bike’) also monitor city projects, keeping tabs on whether the bike-friendly infrastructure actually gets built.
Also, often overlooked groups should be integrated into the overall picture of Brno’s cycling culture and future planning. Kratochvíl notes that Brno has many bicycle couriers, many of whom are foreign nationals, who should be better supported and educated. He says he welcomes any initiative to engage this group better and views it as a part of the answer to the puzzle of addressing the concerns of the residents of Brno towards biking.
Overall, the picture painted by these initiatives and the comments from those involved in Brno’s transformation towards a more bike-friendly city leaves one with a feeling of optimism. But as Ondrášek puts it, there’s hope, but it’s not guaranteed. “The vision is there,” he says, “but now we need to see it happen.” When asked how he sees this transformation happening in practice in the future, he laughs and says: “Z každého rožku trošku“ (A little bit of everything).
