ECS upgrade and new EuroVelo Route Inspectors

Fine-tuned ECS quality criteria

ECS, as explained on the dedicated web page, is a unique and comprehensive methodology designed by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) to assess the quality of cycle routes. It is based on a set of criteria defined according to the needs of cycle route users:

After more than 10 years since its launch in 2011 and the first survey app in 2014, ECS is used more and more, by a growing number of EuroVelo Route Inspectors: surveys were carried out in 11 countries in 2024 and 8 more in 2025, while 7 countries have an active ECS License in 2026. ECS surveys are also needed in the frame of the New EuroVelo Routes process. This use of the methodology brought some issues and questions and the update aims to clarify this.

The 2026 update improved quality criteria related to all aspects of a cycle route: infrastructure, attractiveness, public transport access, services, and communication. The criteria now better meet the needs of relevant user groups. In particular, users targeted by the “additional criteria” were described more precisely: it is now explicit that these criteria meet the needs of families and users of non-standard cycles, previously called “demanding users”. The update also addressed issues reported by EuroVelo Route Inspectors during field surveys, such as ambiguities or parameters that were hard to measure.

Definitions and usage of specific terms were also made coherent with the recently published UNECE Quality Requirements for Cycling Infrastructure, summarised in this publication from ECF. The ECS quality standards are in line with UNECE Quality Requirements, but they are more specific and ready to apply in practice.

What's more, ECS essential criteria constitute the basis for the development of the new EuroVelo route categories recently released on www.EuroVelo.com: to be considered "developed" on public EuroVelo maps, daily sections need to meet these quality criteria at 95% in terms of infrastructure, either with survey data to back this up or from a quality analysis made by NECCs. This ensures that what a "developed route" means is harmonised across the whole network, and not defined based on a specific country's context.

EuroVelo Certification label made more accessible

A major outcome of this update concerns the EuroVelo Certification process, which aims to highlight EuroVelo sections verified to meet the needs of cyclists. EuroVelo Certification is now easier to obtain for high-quality portions of EuroVelo routes. Any 100-km continuous stretch of EuroVelo route meeting at least ECS essential criteria on each daily section is now eligible for EuroVelo Certification.

Within a EuroVelo Certified route, daily sections will be referred to as “one-star”, “two-star” or “three-star certified” depending on the level of ECS criteria that they meet: essential, important or additional (see the pyramid above).

This is a change of logic compared to the previous EuroVelo Certification process, which was less intuitive. Now, meeting the ECS essential criteria is sufficient to obtain the EuroVelo Certification label. The three-tier rating system is very important to reflect the granularity of the route and to highlight sections meeting the needs of occasional cyclists, families and users of non-standard cycles. New communication tools will need to be developed on EuroVelo.com to make sure users can find the sections that best correspond to their needs.

Finally, more flexibility was introduced in the EuroVelo Certification process to take into consideration the different geographical contexts across Europe and give a possibility to high-quality cycle routes in sparsely populated areas or hilly regions to access EuroVelo Certification too.

Are you managing a cycle route part of the EuroVelo network, and do you think that this route ought to be awarded the EuroVelo Certification? Consider purchasing an ECS Licence and doing a field survey to prove the quality of the route with data. Then, you can apply for EuroVelo Certification!

Here is the EuroVelo Certification process in a nutshell:

Interested in reading more? ECS quality standards, steps for conducting a field survey and the EuroVelo Certification process are all introduced in the ECS Short Manual. This document is publicly available, and it is a summary of the comprehensive ECS Handbook, only shared with EuroVelo Route Inspectors during training courses and available on demand to the EuroVelo team.

Newly certified EuroVelo Route Inspectors from 10 different countries

The annual EuroVelo Route Inspectors’ training took place in Brussels on 14-15 April, while the Refresher Course, designed for EuroVelo Route Inspectors interested in refreshing their memory on ECS before hopping on the field, learning about the update and renewing their inspector certificates, took place online on 19 May. The ECS Refresher Course is now being organised in Spring as it is especially useful for inspectors planning a field trip during Summer.

This year, 18 newly certified inspectors from 10 different countries joined the group, bringing the total number of inspectors trained to 319. Among those, 230 inspectors from 30 countries have active certificates and are authorised to survey cycle routes using the ECS App, provided that an ECS Licence has been purchased first by the route consortium hiring the inspectors. Refer to the ECS Short Manual for more details about this process. A map of the number of EuroVelo Route Inspectors per country is regularly updated on this page.

The EuroVelo Route Inspectors’ training combines two days of learning, including an extensive presentation of the ECS methodology – i.e. ECS quality criteria, how to survey and analyse collected data, how to check if the route is eligible for EuroVelo Certification – with exercises and discussions, and on-field training with a test field survey.

Watch the training video to see how it looks and join us next year! Save the dates for the EuroVelo Route Inspectors’ training 2027 scheduled to take place on 6-7 April.

Are you a certified EuroVelo Route Inspector? Then make sure to join the EuroVelo Route Inspectors’ community on LinkedIn to ask your questions and exchange with other inspectors.

For questions about ECS, requests to purchase the ECS Licence or any other inquiries, please contact Alexandra Fournier, [email protected] or Florence Grégoire, [email protected].