The Milas' Mobile Bicycle Workshop

The Mila brothers don't limit themselves to two-wheeled vehicles.

Still hard at work after dark.

Last year, Jason Mila, 29, was one more young Colombian without employment. A resident of the poor Dorado hillside neighborhood, his poor public school school education didn't qualify him for much.

But Jason owned a street vendors' cart, and knew how to repair bikes. Today, he and his brothers, all of whom have experience with bicycles, including working for Bogotá Bike Tours, are operating a successful mobile bike repair cart along the pedestrianized stretch of Carrera Septima.

Bicycle rush hour on Carrera Septima.

Theirs is a long workday - often stretching from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. to catch the rush hours - but it makes them part of Bogotá's expanding bicycle economy, which has seen a proliferation of such temporary, mobile workshops in recent years. And they also do house calls. (Call them at 321-995-9261.)

Repair stands such as Jason's occupy a legal grey area. Despite the valuable service they perform for clean transit, and the employment they generate for low-skilled people, the stands generally lack business licenses and occupy public space. Fortunately, the police don't appear to be cracking down on them. Jason believes he knows why - his clients include bicycle-riding cops.

Update: But recently city rule-enforcers have been hassling the brothers, forcing them to be truly mobile, as they scurry from spot to spot.

'You guys gotta move!' City employees with Bogota Mejor, (Better Bogotá) tell the brothers that they have to remove themselves from Carrera Septima. Repairing bikes is an obvious threat to social wellbeing.

The Milas' sign, pointing to their workshop, now located off of Carrera Septima. The Better Bogotá people have saved the avenue from the threat of bicycle repairs!

Not only tools in this cart.

A bike repair stand beside the Universidad Pedagogica...

...and another in the Centro Internacional.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Newest 'Bike Lane'?

Bicyclists in the new bus (and bike)-only lane on Carrera Septima.

A bicyclists shares the bike-bus lane
with a car and a motorcycle.

Bogotá once won fame as a global pioneer in building lanes for bicyclists.

During the past several city administrations, the city has lost that pioneering spirit. Mayor Petro, however, has expanded the bike lane network, trying to do so on the cheap and quick.

Petros's latest idea is a shared bike-bus lane on Carrera Septima, north of the Parque Nacional. The idea is potentially a good one. However, a visit this week during the afternoon rush hour found no sign of it being implemented, and cyclists on their own - as usual.

The bike-bus lane is part of a plan to turn Carrera Septima 'green', which also includes low-emission TransMilenio buses and green roofs on bus shelters. Unfortunately, the greening does not appear to include controlling pollution from traditional buses and other vehicles.

On the stretch of Carrera Septima from Plaza Bolivar to Calle 24, the city has banned cars and created a real bike lane. That has dramatically boosted the number of cyclists using the street. A real protected bicycle lane on the rest of Carrera Septima would do the same.

A car in the bus-only lane. I saw no sign of enforcement of the rule. 

A motorized bicycle in the bus-bike lane. These vehicles are proliferating in Bogotá and assume all the rights and privileges of real bicycles, even tho they pollute more than a car does.

How would you like to bicycle behind me? A 'green' bus belches smoke on La Septima. 

A motorcycle in the bus-bike lane.

A rare sight: A woman cyclist battles traffic, including this car in the bus lane. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours