The canton of Zurich has six official bike trails. The authors of the study found that this does not meet demand. There are 36 hotspots in the canton, where more than 5,000 rides take place every year.

The authors of the study not only used GPS data and automatic counting machines to determine demand, but also conducted a survey. This shows: The majority of bikers want easy to challenging single trails. Most of the participants classify themselves as enduro or all-mountain bikers. If you want to read the full 132 pages of the "Inventory and requirements survey of mountain bike infrastructure in the canton of Zurich", you can find them here. A good summary can be found on the page of Züritrails.

What is striking is that the authors of the study and the canton of Zurich understand mountain bike infrastructure to mean built trails and signposted routes. There are two routes in the canton of Zurich. In addition, there is the bike park in Bülach (which mainly consists of jumps) and - as of spring 2023 - 35 pump tracks. Together with the six built routes, they make up the mountain bike infrastructure of the canton of Zurich according to the study's definition.

Existing, mapped trails do not count towards the MTB infrastructureThis makes it clear that the majority of mountain bikers ride on trails that the canton does not count as part of the mountain bike infrastructure. The study refers to these trails as the "existing trail network" and "user-based trails". These can be official, mapped trails or single trails created by bikers on their own initiative. More than 300 of these are used in the canton of Zurich.

Based on the Uetliberg ruling, according to which bikers are allowed to ride on trails that are marked on the map and correspond to their riding ability, there are thousands of kilometers of narrow and potentially attractive single trails in the canton of Zurich. One example: On the Uetliberg, there are over 40 kilometers of dotted trails, not including the two official routes. And even if you subtract those on which a driving ban is signaled, an impressive network of trails remains.

Hans-Peter Kienast, President of the cantonal organization Trail Friends, puts it in a nutshell: "If you legalized what we have been riding for years - and even if we had to close three out of five trails - then we would have enough single trails." Kienast is of course aware of the Uetliberg ruling, according to which most of the mapped trails can be used. "But the canton doesn't accept this ruling and therefore neither do many foresters and forest owners."Tom Meister, who campaigns for access to single trails in Winterthur with IG Biketrails, also concludes: "The trails are there, they are attractive, they should be included in the solution, just as the study recommends. Some cantonal authorities are still finding it difficult to officially open trails. But this will change because more and more people in politics and in the authorities are coming to the conclusion that it makes no sense, both ecologically and financially, to build new trails when there are already some in place."

And what does Züritrails, the heavyweight among mountain bike clubs, say? Co-President Luise Rohland comments on the study in the Zütirtrails blog as follows: "It will be extremely difficult to cover the demand for bike trails with mountain bike trails alone - this would also be neither economically efficient nor ecologically sustainable. That's why only coexistence, i.e. shared use of the trail network by bikers and hikers, makes sense. In places with high usage pressure, such as around the city of Zurich, attractively built mountain bike trails are also necessary, as these also have a disentangling effect." Rohland also urges the canton to involve bikers in the search for a solution.

Bikers in the canton of Zurich need ... an MTB concept

So what needs to be done? Allegra's analysis also addresses this: the canton should write a mountain bike concept and clarify, among other things, how new infrastructure can be created and existing infrastructure adapted, how existing trails and the issue of coexistence should be dealt with, what the legal situation is - keyword Uetliberg ruling - as well as questions of financing, liability, spatial planning, etc.

If the canton accepts the proposal, a mountain bike concept will be developed over the next few years. After that, the new approval practice will hopefully be established. Projects can then be submitted. In other words, it will be years before anything changes. Quite apart from the fact that it is hardly realistic to cover the demand in the more than 30 hotspots with built trails.

Luckily, the status quo in the canton of Zurich is not a bad one. There are many single trails where mountain bikers are allowed to ride or at least don't have to fear any penalties. The lack of infrastructure would be remedied most quickly at the legal level.