The Pleasures of Shared Bike Lanes

Should bicyclists on this busy avenue in south-central Bogotá, near the Primero de Mayo, feel privileged? After all, this avenue has a special bike/bus lane, as well as 'bike boxes' for waiting safely at intersections.

But the reality doesn't match the theory. On the pavement, here's the cycling experience:

Lots of bicyclsts....

But lots of other vehicles in the exclusive bike/bus lane.

Strict exclusivity!

Can you spot the bicycle?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Making Cycling Safer: It isn't Easy

'Not One More Death!' Cyclists protest
the recent death of a Bogotá bicyclist.

Understandably, this year's Bogotá Bike Week is paying lots of attention to the problem of cyclist fatalities. After all, just recently two Bogotá bicyclists were killed by accidents on two consecutive days. And so far in 2017, some 45 cyclists have died on Bogotá streets. In contrast, in New York, which has about the same population and also a public bicycles program, about 15 cyclists die each year.

I'm writing this from northern California, where I'm visiting my

A video by the El Espectador newspaper
chronicles the number of Bogot'a cyclists
killed annualy, generally more than 50.

parents in a suburb east of San Francisco. Bicycling around here makes starkly clear how Bogotá falls short of being a cyclist-friendly city. Unfortunately, the improvements it needs aren't easy.

The 'Cicloruta' on Calle 13, in Bogotá.
Can you see it amidst all those pedestrians?

Safe, pleasant, useable bike lanes: Bogotá has some of these, and the city is improving. But many Bogotá bike lanes are merely lines painted on sidewalks, where cyclists must dodge around pedestrians, delivery drivers and cars. Other bike lanes have potholes or are blocked by signposts.

In contrast, in northern California, most bike lanes are wide, well-maintained and on streets, where

A California bike lane. Nice -
but where are the cyclists?

they actually take space away from cars.

A bicyclist (behind taxi/red arrow) tries to cross a
Bogotá intersection blocked by cars which ran the red light.

Cautious, courteous drivers: Unfortunately, many Bogotá motorists behave as tho they are the only ones with any rights. That's why you see pedestrians waiting interminably at crosswalks.

(When I block the cars to give an old lady a chance to cross, motorists insult me for it.)

Cycling across an intersection often becomes a game of chicken with drivers who run red lights or

Seldom seen in Bogotá: California cars
stop and wait to let a pedestrian
cross a street.

ignore stop signs and believe that neither laws nor common decency apply to them.

In contrast, here in the Bay Area when I even APPROACH an intersection drivers stop. Is something wrong? I wonder. No, they're waiting for me to cross. Is this out of courtesy, or because they're terrified of getting sued? Does it matter?

Of course, cyclists violate lots of traffic rules. But the general atmosphere of chaos and lack of civility on Bogotá streets makes a cyclist shake his shoulders and ask 'Why obey rules, if nobody else does?'

A Bogotá bus appears to aim its smokey
exhaust at a pedestrian.

Breathable air: In Bogotá, every time a bus, van or truck passes me, I hold my breath, half expecting to be blasted with diesel smoke. In Bogotá, even many cars belch fumes because they lack a catalytic converter or filters. As any Bogotano knows, in a congested spot, you can literally TASTE the air pollution.

Besides the obvious health impacts, this just makes bicycling unpleasant. In California, which has some of the world's strictest emissions laws, even in congested areas I barely sense fumes at all.

The first of these problems requires an engineering fix, and city planners appear to be improving: All the new bike lanes I've seen are on streets.

But the other two issues involve culture, which is tougher to change. Perhaps less apathetic (and less

New York City bicycling accident
rates have fallen steeply.
(Graph: N.Y. D.O.T.)

corrupt) transit police could help, as might public relations campaigns. But as long as the every-man-for-himmself credo rules, cycling, driving and walking Bogotá's streets will be dangerous and frustrating.

Yet, for all that, Bogotá has many more cycle commuters than do northern California's suburbs - and perhaps even more than does bike-friendly San Francisco.

That's why I'm becoming convinced that making cycling pleasant and making it popular are two very different - but related - issues. Fixing these troubles will lure onto two wheels only those people who already would like to bicycle, but are afraid to. To get more people to WANT to cycle will require  more fundamental social changes.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Tale of Two Ciclorutas

Pedaling past congested cars on Carrera 11's bike lane.

Rush hour on the bike lane. 

The Cicloruta, or bike lane, which runs up carreras 13 and 11 from the Museo Nacional to Calle 100 represents and best and worst in Bogotá bicycle infrastructure. So much, that it's more accurately two bike lanes stitched together.

The 18-block stretch between calles 82 and 100 are wide, clear and smooth: great for cyclists' self-esteem - particularly when one is sailing past cars jammed against each other. Perhaps the sight of us free and fast cyclists will persuade a few drivers to emerge from their steel cans.

But even on the bike lane, cars cause problems. Here, waiting for a traffic jam to clear.

South of Calle 82, riding around a car
stopped across the sidewalk bike lane.

South of 82nd street, however, the bike lane shifts onto the sidewalk, where cyclists must dodge pedestrians and delivery vehicles, not to mention cars waiting at stop signs and the occasional dog. As bad as it is for the cyclist, this arrangement must be more miserable for the poor pedestrian, who steps across the sidewalk only to have a furiously pedaling commuter rush past them. And the cyclist feels like an interloper, a bully rushing between pedestrians and swerving around them.

Sidewalk riding can be crowded.

A ´puddle and broken pavement.

Amphibious cyclilng, anyone?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Cycling Czar for Bogotá?

London and New York City have them. And so do Madison, Wisconsin; Thousand Oaks, California; San Diego, California and many other cities - but not Bogotá, despite its reputation as an urban bicycling pioneer.

The good: Bicyclists on the Sunday Ciclovia. A few
years ago a senator tried to cut back La Ciclovia's hours.

But may come soon. At a meeting Friday evening in the Bogotá City Council building, councilman Roberto Saenz proposed the idea of creating a city 'bicycle office.'

But, what such an office would be called or do, and what authority it would have, aren't clear.

Several attendees at the event urged that the office not be 'just about infrastructure,' which is a good point. Also, that it be made to last, rather than just for this mayoralty, whose weeks may be numbered.

Jesús David Acero, bike coordinator for the
Institute of Urban Development (IDU) makes a point. 

For the sake of cyclists, the mission of such an office should be defined early - and in our favor. After all, a 'bicycle office' could be about, instead of promoting cycling, sanctioning cyclists. Or counting them. Or restricting and regulating them 'for their own good.'

Would this office possess its own real authority or only be a conduit which would have to go, hat in hand, appealing to other city offices for resources and support?

But, as long as it stays positive, a bicycle office could be a good thing just by existing, since it would provide bikes and cyclists with attention and importance.

The bad: Bike lane needed on Carrera 10, in the city center.

Meeting attendees also discussed the problem of bicycle theft. If the Dutch haven't eliminated bike theft, I don't expect Bogotá to, either. However, there are basic measures the police could take - but, infuriatingly, don't - to reduce the impunity, at least a bit. One would be to control or shut down the shops, in areas such as the Santa Fe neighborhood, which everybody knows deal in stolen bikes. Another would be to equip a nice bike with a hidden GPS tracker, let it get stolen, and then follow it to the place where gangs steal or fence their goods.

City Councilman Roberto Saenz,
with an assistant on his right.

By Mike Ceaser, de Bogotá Bike Tours

The Liberal Party: Promoting Bicycling or Driving?

Liberal party campaigners out pedaling.

Last Thursday, Bogotá's 14th-annual Car-Free Day, Liberal Party campaigners turned out on bicycles. They even rented bikes from Bogotá Bike Tours. Hopefully, this was more than just P.R., and the Liberales really support clean, human-powered transportation.

However, the very next day, these Liberal Party campaigers (albeit for different candidates) marched down Ave. Septima wearing shirts demanding a "fair price" for gasoline. The shirts showed a customer being held up with a gasoline pump nozzle wielded like a pistol.

Cheaper gasoline promotes more driving, pollution, traffic congestion and sedentarism - all of which are bad for bicyclists, of course.

Liberal Party members beat the
drum for cheaper gasoline. 

Subsidizing gasoline is also a give-away primarily to the wealthier clases, who own big cars, while the poor walk, bike or take the bus. Money spent - or taxes lost - on gasoline also means less resources for schools, police and public hospitals.

Why are gasoline prices such a populist issue? Venezuela's 'revolutionary, socialist' presidents, who love to criticize the United States for consumerism and wastefulness, subsidize gasoline there to just a few cents per gallon. Why don't I ever see marchers demanding lower prices on bread, carrots, books or potatoes?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Give Bogotá Points for Trying

The city government has plastered central Bogotá (at least) with these posters announcing the pluses of bicycling.

"I enjoy the clouds, look at the trees," says Zoraya Perez, on her bicycle loaded with packages.

"The bicycle benefits me in work," says Jesús Antonio Medina, perhaps a delivery man.

"While I ride my bike, others can breathe better," says Luis Hernando Rivas.

The city also set up a website called Bicion and have a radio ads using the slogan 'My style is the bicycle.'

Controlling air pollution would make
cycling more pleasant and healthy.

Good for the city. I hope this campaign will make existing cyclists feel better about riding. But will the campaign convince many Bogotanos to switch from four wheels to two? I doubt it, particularly in the face of the constant, massive and propaganda onslaught telling people that 'cars are great and you need one to be loved and respected.' More than 100,000 new cars enter Bogotá each year, pushing the city closer to being one big traffic jam. Meanwhile, lowering the price of gas seems to be one of the national government's central goals.

As positive as it is to see the city of Bogotá promoting cycling, it also makes me ask why the cyclists themselves, as well as the bicycle industry, aren't doing it. The danger here is that officialdom co-opts Bogotá's as-yet-unborn pro-cycling movement, making it difficult for future activists to oppose city policies.

I was saddened, but not surprised, to read one of Bicion's creators complaining about non-attendance at its organized rides. In fact, Bogotá ciclistas do turn out for mass bike rides - but not for political ones.

Big cars block bicyclists entering a park in Bogotá. Enforcing parking laws might make cycling easier. 

'My Style is the Bicycle,' on a bus stop billboard.

Transport for the masses? A cyclist weaves
thru obstacles on Carrera Septima. 

The Bicion website also contains handy tips, including to eat well before your bike ride and to check the weather forecast. The site also advises car drivers to stay a safe distance from cyclists and not to block bike lanes. Perhaps a few of them will actually read it.

In any case, it's long seemed to me that more important than propaganda is improving conditions for cyclists: creating more, and more usable, bike lanes (not on crowded sidewalks, please), controlling air pollution and citing drivers for blocking bike lanes and the ramps which cyclists and pedestrians use.

The pleasures of cycling on Bogotá's streets. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Back When Bicycling Was Bad: Gabriel Garcia Marquez on Cycling

Bogotá's finest confiscate law-breaking bicyclesin 1955 (Photo: El Espectador)

Bogotá bicyclists, including yours truly, love to complain: about the chaotic, inconsiderate drivers who behave like bicycles don't exist; about the bicycle lanes in bad shape or useless; about the vehicles which belch plumes of smoke into our faces; and so on and so on.

But I felt better - or, at least, less bad - after reading a decades-old story by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez published recently in El Espectador about bicycles' travails and crimes in Bogotá.

The story, 'Cycling Fever in Bogotá,' was originally published in 1955, back when the future novelist was an up-and-coming newspaper reporter. (It was republished to honor the 30th anniversary of Marquez's Nobel Prize for Literature.)

Today, many cyclists complain about helmet laws. Back in Marquez's day, it seems, cyclists were required to have drivers' licenses and license plates. Consider this line - which I at first thot was satire - after Marquez describes 5-year-old children "throwing themselves amidst the automobiles on tricycles," Marquez goes on to observe that "Some of these bicycles don't have license plates, and the majority of their riders - including the children on tricycles - don't have drivers' licenses."

And get ready for another cycling offense: "In Oskar Park, in the Santa Fe neighborhood, a child without a driver's license rode a tricycle without a license plate down the middle of the street. The vehicle didn't belong to him - it had been rented by an agency for 30 cents for 15 minutes."

Even more shocking than unlicensed tricyclists, if that is possible, are the schoolchildren's neighborhood bicycle races, fed by the excitement of the annual Tour of Colombia. And, last but not least, many bicyclists violated the prohibition against cycling in the city center except by those with a special license.

In response to this criminal onslaught by unlicensed pedalers, including those terrible five-year-old tricyclists, the police spent a whole day doing nothing but punishing cyclists' irregularities, Márquez reports, and confiscated 300 bicycles.

That was then, this is now: Cyclists on Ave. Septima, where cars are prohibited from a 25-block section.

And that was only the beginning, writes Márquez. Municipal authorities planned new regulations to control the bicycle problem, in particular by enforcing the licensing laws.

For all that we complain, today at least city authorities have realized the bicycles are a solution, to be encouraged, rather than a problem (even if their actions don't always match their words). Even tho the bike lanes, called Ciclorutas, leave a lot to be desired, at least we have them. And, while bicycles were mostly banned from downtown in Marquez's time, today a chunk of Ave. Septima is pedestrianized during the day.

So, while we cyclists need to continue demanding our rights and improved conditions, it's also worthwhile reflecting on how far we've come.

And get ready for another cycling offense: "In Oskar Park, in the Santa Fe neighborhood, a child without a driver's license rode a tricycle without a license plate down the middle of the street. The vehicle didn't belong to him - it had been rented by an agency for 30 cents for 15 minutes."

Even more shocking than unlicensed tricyclists, if that is possible, are the schoolchildren's neighborhood bicycle races, fed by the excitement of the annual Tour of Colombia. And, last but not least, many bicyclists violated the prohibition against cycling in the city center except by those with a special license.

In response to this criminal onslaught by unlicensed pedalers, including those terrible five-year-old tricyclists, the police spent a whole day doing nothing but punishing cyclists' irregularities, Márquez reports, and confiscated 300 bicycles.

And that was only the beginning, writes Márquez. Municipal authorities planned new regulations to control the bicycle problem, in particular by enforcing the licensing laws.

For all that we complain, today at least city authorities have realized the bicycles are a solution, to be encouraged, rather than a problem (even if their actions don't always match their words). Even tho the bike lanes, called Ciclorutas, leave a lot to be desired, at least we have them. And, while bicycles were mostly banned from downtown in Marquez's time, today a chunk of Ave. Septima is pedestrianized during the day.

So, while we cyclists need to continue demanding our rights and improved conditions, it's also worthwhile reflecting on how far we've come.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

'The Bicycle as an Alternative' to Bogotá's Traffic Jams

'The Bicycle as Alternative' to Bogotá's Traffic Jams'

Today's El Tiempo editorialized in favor of promoting bicycling as a transport alternative, by building more bike parking lots and bike lanes. Bicycling is a "healthy and free-moving form of transport, whose use doesn't produce congestion and if friendly to the environment."

They're completely correct, of course - but the ambitious editorial and Bogotá's still-enduring reputation as a cycling-friendly city make the reality all the more sad. Certainly, Mayor Peñalosa did make Bogotá a pioneer - but the city's lagged since then, and its few recent efforts have been half-hearted.

A cyclist enters a public bike parking facility near La Candelaria.

The ground floor of the two-story parking building. 

A few years ago, this bike parking building opened near the Las Aguas TransMilenio station - altho only after years of delay. The building is also unnecessarily expensive and its design could be much better - but it seems to be a success. Today a guard told me that they get about 200 users a day, who park their bikes free of charge. If a significant proportion of those people are using their bikes because of the convenient and free parking, then I bet it's a good deal for the city in reduced pollution, congestion and improved health, not to mention for the cyclists themselves.

But only a few TransMilenio stations offer bicycle parking. Simple bike racks, located near security guards, at all TransMilenio stations would give a big boost to cycling. Why the city hasn't done this is beyond my comprehension. 

But this just-finished TransMilenio station on 26th St. and Carrera Decima - located right above a Cicloruta - appears to lack bike parking. 

A free bike lending program on the closed portion of Seventh Ave. 

Cyclists pedaling on a portion of Ave. Septima closed to cars while the bridge over 26th Street is replaced. 

Unfortunately, Septima looks to be reopened soon, meaning that cyclists will once again suffer, like this guy on the nearby 19th St. 

This homeless man found a home - in one of Bogotá's Ciclorutas, or bike lanes.

Unfortunately, recent mayors have done little to expand or even maintain Bogotá's once-vaunted bike lane network. This guy, one of many who camp or park cars in the bike lane behind the Central Cemetery, is indicative of the importance which officialdom gives to cyclists' needs.

A bus belches smoke today on Ave. 19. 

Can't help leaving out this photo I tood this afternoon. Why would anybody subject themself to toxic chemical attack?

By Mike Ceaser of Bogotá Bike Tours