F network Flemish-Brabant: strategy around main entrances

Two principles to make A to B connections understandable

Like most cycle highways, the cycle highways of the province of Flemish-Brabant are in the first place designed for commuting between two cities or between a major residential area or major workplace and a city. The province has developed two strategies to make the (future) cycle highways easy understandable and explainable as an A to B connection:

• Each A to B connection has its own F-number.
• Each A to B connection ideally starts and ends nearby a train station, an important multi modal hub or another cycle highway that ideally makes a connection with a train station.

By applying these simple principles on the future cycle highway network in Flemish-Brabant and Brussels, the province is able to make the cycle highway mobility product better understandable, explainable and findable for new users.  

Connecting train stations: example of the F3 and F212

If you look at the the future cycle network around Brussels , you will notice that the F3 and the F212 point at two different radial  connections to Brussels. While the F3 makes the connection with the city of Leuven in the east of Brussels, the F212 establishes a connection with  the city of Asse in the west of Brussels. In the future, both cycle highways will meat each other near the trainstation of Brussel-Noord.  Starting from the train station Brussel-Noord,  the future F3 and F212 will establish a cycling connection respectively with the train stations of Leuven and Asse.  The trainstations will be the main starting and ending points. 

A strategy to visualize the main entrance

In order to visualize the main entrance near a train station,, the following strategy is explored:

• Ideally, the high quality cycle infrastructure is visible and continues till the main entrance near the trainstation.
• At the main entrance, the readability tool is a large metroline combined wit a map of the cycle highway network. The big code-logo (blue triangle brand) attracts attention and the information on the metroline shows how the mobility product can be used.   
• In a crowded environment with lots of visual triggers, extra services like a service station or bicycle counter may improve the visibility of the entrance and attract more attention.