What is cycleFIT? Background and motivation

cycleFIT is the living lab for cycling mobility at TU Wien. The project aims to structurally embed sustainable mobility with a strong focus on cycling into everyday university life.

Many members of TU Wien would like to commute to the university by bicycle, as shown by the results of the TU Wien mobility survey. At the same time, more detailed analyses reveal that existing barriers such as insufficient bike parking, infrastructural gaps, or organisational obstacles often make cycling less practical. cycleFIT addresses precisely this gap between existing potential and everyday mobility practices.

Our approach

cycleFIT follows an integrated, data-driven, and participatory approach.

The project considers both:

  • conditions directly at TU Wien locations (bike parking, showers, digital services), and
  • the routes to the university and between different campus locations.

Within the living lab, problem areas are systematically mapped and analysed. Together with students, faculty, and staff, solutions are developed, prototyped, and tested directly on campus. These prototypes are evaluated and further refined in an iterative process.

cycleFIT brings together:

  • research
  • teaching
  • university operations

What is being developed?

The project focuses on:

  • embedding cycling mobility more strongly within TU Wien’s institutional landscape
  • improving and expanding bicycle parking infrastructure
  • concepts for showers and changing facilities
  • prototypes for digital cycling services
  • participation formats and activities related to cycling mobility
  • a strategic implementation framework for long-term integration

A central component is the development of a structured action plan that transparently assesses impact potential, feasibility, and priorities.

Our goal

cycleFIT lays the foundation for a bike-friendly TU Wien as an attractive place to study and work that actively promotes health, sustainability, and quality of life.

The project views cycling not as an isolated measure, but as a lever for a broader transformation towards a climate-resilient, liveable, and future-oriented university.