Hi, I added these tags through StreetComplete quests. The cycle/footway:surface tags are added only for paths with segregated cycle- and footways, and the surface tag is left in place if it already existed.

As you say, this is not optimal, though I think tagging cycle- and footway:surface instead of (not in addition to) surface should also be OK. This should probably be reported to the StreetComplete issue tracker, so a better approach can be found. Maybe it would be OK to remove the surface tag once both cycle- and footway:surface tags have been set?

Alternatively the two quests (for cycle- and footways) could be merged into one, and only the surface tag added if the answers are the same. But then it’s not clear if this means they are in fact the same, or just that more specific info has not (yet) been provided.

In any case, thanks for the note! Feel free to revert any of my changes.