Back on the Bikes at La Nacho

Set to pedal. National University students set out on the new public bikes.

A few years ago, the Universidad Nacional's Bogotá campus bought thousands of simple bikes, painted them green and distributed them around campus. The idealistic concept was that students and others would píck up a bike, pedal it to their destination, and leave it there for someone else to use.

Riding in the rain on a public
bike in La Nacho.

Unfortunately, the users were not so ideal. The bikes got abused, damaged and stolen.

Since nobody knew who had used a particular bike, nobody was held responsible. Finally, the the university, known as La Nacho, scrapped the program. 

But now, with 5 lending stations and 115 salvaged and repaired bikes, the program's on again. This time, however, there's responsibility. Users must first register and then show their I.D. each time they use a bike. Eventually, planners hope to have 1,000 public bikes.

Long time coming. Looks like the National University
campus finally has a much-needed bike repair stand. 

The disadvantage of this arrangement is its expense, and the fact that campus visitors can't use the bikes. But that's a small price for having a system which actually works.

Of course, La Nacho never stopped being a bike-friendly place. Thousands of students and others pedal the flat campus every day on their own bikes.

Might this nudge Bogotá officials to actually create a real city-wide public bikes program? Let us hope.

Update: During my frequents visits to the campus I've seen very few people actually using the public bikes. And today, Oct. 29, I learned why. For some senseless reason, the program was not arranged thru the university's central administration, but thru individual schools. As of Oct. 29 only 2 of the campus's 11 schools, arts and engineering, have signed up. Students not in one of those two majors can't use the bikes unless they've registered on their own for the program.

The public bikes program is being administered by the city's Instituto de Recreacion y Deporte (IDRD), which also runs the public bikes on Ave. Septima.

The public bikes can be walked, too.

Blog by Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Public Bikes on Seventh Ave.

Attendants and bikes on Seventh Ave. 

Bogotá's long-promised public bicycles system appears no closer to reality. But, in what will hopefully spur officialdom to get it moving, City Hall and the IDRD have set up a low-tech, small-scale bike lending program on the pedestrianized stretch of Ave. Septima between 19th and 24th Sts.

The aluminum-frame bikes are lots nicer than needed
for five level blocks of Ave. Septima.

Right now, they've got 16 bikes, stationed in two spots, by 19th St. and 24th. But they have more bikes available and intend to expand, an attendant told me. The bikes are nice ones, with aluminum frames. And security isn't bullet-proof: attendants make sure users have a valid photo ID, and take a photograph of the person with ID and bike. Users are supposed to remain only on the five blocks of Seventh Ave. which are closed to cars while the bridge over 26th St. is replaced as part of the TransMilenio expansion project (The new bridge is supposed to be completed in 100 days.)

Encouragingly, an attendant told me they lent bikes 130 times today, which was happily rain-free. Yesterday was tougher, however, because of cold rain and protest marches.

"When the protests finally ended, the rains started," an attendant lamented.

Students, local employees and "even business men in suits and ties," used the bikes. Not a single one was stolen, altho I can't imagine it'd be very difficult for someone to present a fake ID and then dart down a side street into the Santa Fe neighborhood, where a stolen bike would be easy to hide.

This five-block project isn't very practical for transport, altho officials should consider expanding it to include spots near universities along the Eje Ambiental. But it demonstrates, once again, that real demand exists for public bicycles in Bogotá, and that this city of traffic jams may be missing an opportunity by not pursuing the idea, as Medellin is.

Users riding five blocks on loaned bikes. Each loan includes a helmet, but few got used. 

A bicycle stand. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Medellin's Public Bicycles Roll Forward

EnCicla riders ready to roll. (Photo: Medellin Transit Dep't)

While Bogotá's 'public bicycles' gather dust somewhere, Medellin is expanding its own system.

Bogotá would appear to lend itself more to public bicycles: it's a big, flat, dense city with a reputation as a cycling pioneer - and lots of traffic jams. But Medellin has been rolling forward with its program, called EnCicla, while Bogotá's is parked.

Jesus David Acero, the program's administrator and an official with Medellin's transit office, said Medellin's program has succeeded thanks to careful groundwork and planning -and most of all support from municipal and regional officials.

Medellin had cycling experts design its system, Acero said, and used specially-designed bicycles, together with software to manage the system.

Medellin's pre-designed bicycles.
(Photo: Medellin Transit Dep't)

In contrast, Acero says, Bogotá employed ordinary bicycles and neither carefully planned its pilot public bicycles project, nor has produced a thorough analysis of its results.

Still, Bogotá's public bike test program, called BiciBog, was quite well received and got good use - at least in its north Bogotá station. The south Bogotá trial received less demand, perhaps because many of the residents in the lower-income area have their own bicycles, as well as because of competition there from bicitaxis.

But Bogotá officials haven't indicated when or whether they'll continue the system. Acero says, however, that officials from the administration of incoming leftist Bogotá mayor Gustavo Petro have indicated interest in creating a public bike program here.

Meanwhile, Medellin's public bike program is still technically in its pilot stage, but has been extended until March of 2012 and expanded from being available to only the students of two universities to the public in general. Not one of the bikes, which are equipped with GPS trackers, has been stolen.

Currently, the program has 145 bicycles, 105 of which are in the city and 40 in a rural park area and 11 parking stations. Users pay nothing and get to use the bikes for one hour at a time. Those who go over the limit lose borrowing privileges for three days.

Bogotá's public bicycles in action. They weren't designed for shared use, however. And they're now collecting dust. (Despacio.org)

How much more the program can expand, Acero says, will depend on how much support they get from politicians and businesses. During 2011, the city funded the program with one (American) billion pesos, but Acer's hoping to get five times that much for 2012. Users have indicated a willingness to pay for the service, but only about 1,000 pesos per ride, so the program is seeking business sponsors.

The Medellin government "will have a hard time not expanding the public bikes program," Acero says, "because it's been very well accepted."

But Acero expresses lots of frustration about Bogotá's lack of progress. In fact, at this writing the folks in charge of BiciBog have yet to deliver their final report, which has been postponed at least once.

EnCicla's Facebook Page.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

And Victory Goes to the Fittest

There they go! A cyclist races a TransMilenio bus in Bogotá.

The University of the Andes sponsored the second-annual 'Transit Modalities Race' Friday, and once again the winner is: The bicycle!

On Jimenez Ave., private cars block each other,
TM buses and even a cyclist. 

The race consisted of 12 commuters, three each in private cars, TransMilenio buses, regular buses and on bicycles, who left at 8 a.m. from three different spots around Bogotá and commuted to the Andes University, in La Candelaria.

The cyclists won far and away, averaging 21.5 kilometers per hour - leaving them time for a coffee and a long shower before the private cars arrived, having averaged only 15.5 KPH, barely ahead of the TransMilenio at 15.3 KPH. The regular bus averaged only 13.4 KPH. The cyclists in fact won all three races.

I was surprised, however, that the private car drivers beat the TM buses - albeit only by a hair. But the TM's time was really hurt by a last-place showing in one of the routes, from north Bogota, where it lost even to the regular bus. So I wonder whether that TM route experienced some extraordinary delay, such as an accident or a completely perverse traffic jam - most likely caused by private cars.

No way to travel: cars wait and wait in central Bogota. 

A Bogotá Cicloruta. 

On the other hand, the fact that the private cars were slower on all three routes than bicycles, and in one also lost to both the TM and the regular bus, underlines the insanity of investing millions of pesos in big, polluting machines which clog the roads and often carry only one or two people.

The bicycles' victory is particularly meaningful right now because both Bogotá and Medellin are carrying out pilot public bicycle projects. The news reports I've seen about the Medellin program have been positive, while those about Bogotá's, named BiciBog, have been mixed. Some transit experts opine that Bogotá's public bikes aren't comfortably designed or very durable and are too big for many Bogotanos, and that the stations aren't well located. Observers are also asking about where some of planning money went. (See, for example, Carlos Pardo's blog, where he also asks why the bikes are only for people over age 16, and why the instructions appear to restrict use to Ciclorutas - which would eliminate many destinations.)

BiciBog bikes. (Photo: El Espectador)

Planners have responded that these bikes are only for testing purposes, and that when the real system starts, it'll use especially-designed bikes. And that the same goes for the system of bicycle stations.

Yet, despite all of this, the bikes, which are free, appear to be receiving lots of use. This is encouraging. But creating a city-wide system will mean dealing with lots of problems, including crime and mechanical difficulties, Bogotá's helmet law and pollution and chaotic traffic, which make cycling unpleasant and even dangerous for your health.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

Public Bicycles for Medellin

Simple and sturdy: Will Medellin's public bikes look like this one? (Photo: Facebook)

The city of Medellin plans to start up a public bicycles program this September, which would make it the first city in Colombia with such a system.

Better and faster on a bike? A traffic jam in Medellin.
(Photo: www.ecbloguer.com)

The program is to begin this September with 160 bicycles and continue at least until December, when it will be evaluated. The bicycles are being made by a local company, Bici-K, and will carry GPS trackers. The program is to operate 15 hours every day. The scheme will also include 45 bicycles in the Arví Natural Reserve, according to El Tiempo, altho it's not clear whether those are in addition to the 160 bikes. The city also plans to hire between 20 and 30 university students to administer the system.

Medellin has mild, warm weather conducive to cycling. But it rains a lot and the city is hilly. Hopefully, the system will succeed and serve to pressure Bogotá to create its own public bikes system.

According to my reading, Medellin will be the fourth city in South America and the fifth in Latin America with a public bicycles program, after Santiago, Chile; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Mexico City. The only such experiment I've heard of in Colombia were the public bikes on the campus of Bogotá's National University. That program was ended because many bicycles were stolen and damaged - despite the fact that the university is surrounded by a fence with security. However, the university had no system to track who was using the bicycles.

A prototype of the public bikes planned for Medelling, according to El Mundo newspaper.

A Bogotá city councilman announced plans years ago to create a public bikes program in Bogotá. But it hasn't moved forward, and I doubt its prospects until Bogotá improves cycling conditions by controlling pollution and taming the chaotic traffic.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Where did BicirrUN run off to?

BicirrUN was a program of free public bicycles for use on the Bogotá' campus of Colombia's National University. The Bogotá campus, formally called the 'University City,' is huge, so walking between classes can take time.

BicirrUN, begun in 2006, consisted of some 300 bicycles (at a time) distributed across the campus. These were simple one-speeds (the campus is flat) with only one brake and often just a cable in place of the lower tube and were left in bike racks and by building entrances so that people could grab them and ride to their destinations, where they left them for someone else.

Besides saving time and (human) energy and popularizing cycling, the university bikes program also served as a template for a possible city-wide public bicycles program.

The project was Bogotá's third large experiment for promoting cycling, following the Ciclovia and the Cicloruta bike path system. It could be seen as a pilot for a possible municipal public bicycle system. Unfortunately, so far it has failed.

Unfortunately, in 2009 the program was folded and the bikes placed in deep storage below the university's nursing building. According to reports, the program cost too much - some of the bikes disappeared and many more were damaged by people doing things like going down stairs and leaping from rocks. It became unsustainable.

Fortunately, administrators are looking for a way to restart BicirrUN. They've talked about an education campaign and/or requiring users to check out their bikes, like library books.

How could the program be made viable?

An electronic credit card-type system is just out of reach because of cost.

And having people check out bikes for 20-minute periods also seems impractical. The university would need an army of monitor to administer the system.

But what if bikes were checked out for 24-hour periods? Users might also receive locks, or have to bring their own. Such a system might also permit students to take the bikes of campus, so that they'd become commuter vehicles as well. In case of damage or loss, the user would be required to pay the costs or lose the right to participate in the system.

Another note: Lots of National University students and faculty bring their own bikes onto campus. The campus is crowded with entrepeneurs who rent cell-phones, sell food, pirated music and other stuff. So, why hasn't anybody thot of creating a bike repair shop or stand on campus?