City of Pardubice has been named the 2025 Cycling City of the Bike to Work challenge. Jihlava is the Cycling Newcomer of the Year.

The survey result is therefore a combination of subjective evaluations by infrastructure users and objective data from the CykloRank tool. The highest score—61.4 points—was achieved by last year’s title holder, the city of Otrokovice, which now moves into the Hall of Fame. Pardubice, winning the Cycling City of the Year title for the first time, followed very closely with 61.2 points. Survey respondents particularly appreciated that cycling in Pardubice feels relatively safe, that more contraflow bike streets and traffic-calming measures are gradually being introduced, and that the city’s political leadership supports sustainable transport. Congratulations.

Cycling Newcomer of the Year: Jihlava

The Cycling Newcomer of the Year 2025 award—recognizing the city that has made the greatest progress in cycling infrastructure in recent years—goes to Jihlava. The capital of the Vysočina Region climbed four places compared to last year, moving from sixth to second place, with a total of 60.3 points. “We are very happy that sustainable transport has found its place in our cities and continues to grow,” says Lucie Rýzlerová, head of the Bike to Work challenge at the AutoMat association. Compared to last year, Pardubice improved by three places, while Zlín, Brno, Liberec, and Prague each moved up by two places.

Biketower in front of Pardubice Train Station. Photo: mapy.cz

Evidence and Data

A total of 23,000 people from across the country took part in the 2025 May Bike to Work Challenge, representing 56 cities and more than 2,000 companies and institutions that want to support their employees in sustainable transport. It is precisely their experience with pedestrian and cycling infrastructure that forms the basis of the Cycling City of the Year title. Since 2023, this has been complemented by the CykloRank evaluation, which compares how individual cities perform in supporting cycling. Using open data, it analyzes the extent of cycling infrastructure. The assessment includes 128 Czech cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The ranking is published by Městem na kole magazine in cooperation with the Bike to Work challenge and the Plzeň na kole association. Among the cities evaluated within the Cycling City – Bike to Work framework, Hradec Králové achieved the highest score in CykloRank Czechia 2025, followed closely by Pardubice.

Cities for Safe Mobility

“Safe infrastructure for non-motorized movement in cities is a prerequisite for safe walking and cycling. All cities that care about the quality of the environment and the quality of life of their residents should strive for it,” Rýzlerová continues. It was precisely with this appeal in mind—and in response to last year’s fatal cycling crash near Prague’s Eden—that AutoMat, together with the independent Initiative 0, launched the Zero Call. It is based on Sweden’s Vision Zero concept, whose goal is zero deaths in traffic accidents.

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