Petro for President? A Cycle Policy Perspective.

For years, Plaza San Victorino has hosted this bike rack, which sometimes contains one or two bikes.

Gustavo Petro, a one-time M-19 guerrilla leader, was Bogotá mayor from 2012 to '15, and now wants to be elected president.

From a cyclists perspective, his record is mixed.

Take a look at Plaza San Victorino, which for years had a small bike rack which sometimes held one or two bicycles.

What was wrong with that? A lot, according to someone connected to the Petro administration, who decided that the plaza needed dozens and dozens more bike parking spots.

These Petro bike racks on Plaza San Victorino actually found users.

But this one didn't.

Finally, a bike in this rack.

Another rack, around the corner, provides seating for tired street vendors. 

I guess you get the point. Petro's government issued a contract to install bike racks, but didn't care or didn't bother to check where they actually installed them. So, naturally, the contractor installed them where it was easiest and cheapest, not where they were useful.

Along the same lines, Petro's administration also issued a contract to create a public bicycle system - to a man who had no experience with bicycles and did have a history of corruption accusations, in a consortium with a Chinese company with not apparent experience with bicycles.

The contract was annulled by Mayor Peñalosa, and Bogotá still has no public bikes.

On the other hand, under Petro the city did build some useful bike lanes, called ciclorutas.

A Petro-era cicloruta along El Parkway in Teusaquillo.

Petro also created a limited bike lending program, called Bicicorredores, which lent bikes in six locations in Bogotá. Unfortunately, bikes borrowed in one location could not be returned in another, limiting the program's usefulness for transport. Mayor Peñalosa ended the program, calling it too expensive. 

Public bikes lent out during the Petro administration, now parked for the long-term.

Overall, Petro did some things for cyclists, but many of his initiatives were poorly thought-out or apparently full of corruption. All of which makes one question his sincerity and dedication.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

Petro's Polemic Bike Lanes

Cars wait beside an empty bike lane on Calle 39, in Teusaquillo.

Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro is using the last months of his term to add bike lanes to some of the city's avenues - and earning ire for it. Neighbors and motorists have complained and even organized protests against proposed lanes.

But isn't there a logical flaw here? Drivers complain because they feel that bike lanes steal space from them, slowing them down and increasing congestion.

Cars stuck in a traffic jam beside a bike lane on Calle 24. None of these people could have used a bicycle instead?

But don't these lanes, rather, offer an escape route from the inevitable and worsening traffic jams? The number of private cars in Bogotá is booming, and a first subway line - which won't solve traffic congestion, anyway - is more than a decade away. City leaders are afraid of the only realistic solution, a congestion charge. So, the bike lanes are commuters only real escape hatch from traffic jams.

Instead of complaining about traffic jams, drivers should start taking advantage of them. And they should remember that each of those annoying cyclists is potentially one fewer driver slowing them down.

A cyclist waits for a light to change in a bike lane along the Parkway in Teusaquillo.

A group of cyclists in the new bike lane on Calle 39.

And here's a street, Ave. Caracas, which could use a bike lane.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Fatal Flaw in Bogotá's Public Bikes Plan

Capital Bikeshare bikes in Washington, D.C., which receive public subsidies. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Finally, after years of dithering, trial runs, suspensions and false starts, Bogotá last week accepted a proposal for a public bicycles service - and it portends disaster.

The winner is a Colombo-Chinese consortium with no experience in bicycles, one of whose owners has a history marked by corruption and incompetence.

EcoBici bikes, in Mexico City, which receive
public subsidies. (Photo: Wikipedia)

How did we come to this? Several reputable organizations and companies with real experience in the bike business expressed interest in administering Bogotá's public bikes, but they pulled out because they couldn't see how to make it work financially. In contrast, winning consortium BiciBogotá not only says it can make a profit providing public bikes for Bogotá, but even promises to pay the city a 35% slice of its profits.

To a lot of us, including several of the losing contenders, that sounds completely unrealistic.

A representative of Next Bike, a German company which had expressed interest in Bogotá's public bikes system but decided it was economically inviable, told La Otra Cara website in 2014 that "they're going to supply Bogotá with U.S. $15.00 bicycles which will be destroyed after a few months' use."

Barclays Bikes in London, which are sponsored by the bank.
(Photo: Wikipedia)

There's no apparent reason why reputable companies, with track records administering public bike programs in other cities, should not be interested in Bogotá. After all, it's a big, flat city with a growing economy and a reputation for cycling. And, while Bogotá has lots of crime and poverty, so do Medellin, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Santiago, Chile and Mexico City, where public bike programs function.

However, Bogotá's government, despite its leftist credentials, approached the deal with an intensely capitalist mentality. Rather than envisioning the bikes as a public service deserving subsidies because of its quality of life benefits thru better health, reduced pollution and less traffic congestion, the government wants the bikes to generate profits.

Perhaps such schemes can stand on their own economically in rich cities such as New York and
London, with huge tourist flows, where residents can shell out the dollars to pedal and where advertising space commands premium rates. But that's not Bogotá, Colombia.

Bogotá's public bikes: Subsidies, no, profits, yes.
(Photo: David Luna)

Even New York's Citi Bike program has struggled financially, the Washington Post reports, despite sponsorships from Citibank and MasterCard, while Washington D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare has receives clean air and anti-congestion grants.

From the Post story quoting Chris Hamilton, a regional transportation official:

"They can’t go into starting bikeshare thinking that it’s going to pay for itself. It should be treated like any other part of the transportation system: like the buses, the bikeways, the rail, the sidewalks."

If a city declines to view bikeshare this way, making the public investment that entails, Hamilton says, "I think you set it up to fail." 

This is particularly true because those vehicles which do congest the city, generate pollution and destroy our health do receive huge - if often invisible . subsidies thru free parking and the way we all suffer under their negative impacts.

Bogotá's public bikes story smacks of a mayor rushing to ink a contract before he's out the door. That might be because he wants to leave a legacy or possibly for other, less admirable motives. But, either way, it looks like a route to disaster.

Nevertheless, I'm going to cross my fingers, knock on wood, hold out hope and keep the faith that this just might succeed. If it doesn't, after all, it'll be a huge setback for bicycling in Bogotá.

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

Four Wheels More Important Than Two?

Two cyclists Sunday near Calle 26. La Ciclovia was cancelled for drivers' benefit, yet car traffic was very light.

Ousted Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro may not have done as much as many of us had hoped for cycling - but he did at least sing bicycling's praises, and give bikes some priority. That's most evidenced on Seventh Ave, which Petro pedestrianized and added a bike lane.

Skaters on 26th Street on
Good Friday's Ciclovia.

But bicycling's status may be dropping under the post-Petro placeholder mayors. Bogotá is famous for its Sunday-Holiday Ciclovia, when some main streets and avenues are shut down to cars. This Sunday, however, city officials surprised us by canceling La Ciclovia so as not to inconvenience holiday drivers returning to the city.

Bicycling down Ave. Septima
during last Thursday's Ciclovia.

Admittedly, they did schedule two Ciclovia's last week, on Thursday and Friday. And, with many Bogotanos either out of town or celebrating Easter with their families, the cyclist turnout was light over Easter.

However, the predicted rush of motorists into the city didn't seem to appear at all - or at least until after La Ciclovia had ended at 2 p.m.

Would they have taken this Snday's Ciclovia away  if Petro were still mayor? I doubt it.

Bicyclists share Ave. Septima with a bus on Sunday,
when the avenue would normally be closed for La Ciclovia.

Ciclovias have been cancelled previously to keep those annoying bicyclists out of the way of drivers returning to the city. It's symptomatic of transit planners' mindset that cars are important, while bicycles are nothing more than recreational vehicles whose primary duty is to not inconvenience motorized vehicles.

I hope we won't lose Petro's unfortunately few contributions to urban cycling: the on-street bicycling lanes and the pedestrianization of Ave. Septima.

Bicyclists on the Ave. Septima Ciclovia. Will the mayor reopen it to cars and eliminate the bike lane?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

What's Mayor Petro Done for Bicycling?

A cyclist on a new bike lane on Ave. Septima

A few mayors ago, Bogotá was widely seen as a trailblazer for bicyclists. It's since lost that image. When Gustavo Petro became mayor at the start of 2012 he really talked the talk about promoting cycling. Two years later, however, as Petro fights to stay in office, his record is disappointing.

Petro has built some bike lanes, created a very limited bike lending program in the city center and paid for pro-bike propaganda. But cycling conditions in most of the city haven't improved. And, in legal terms, cycling has been ignored.

Painters lay down a bike lane on Ave. Septima.

In two years Petro has built only 14 kms of bike lanes. That's more than his predecessor Samuel Moreno, but only 10% of what Petro promised he'd build during his four-year term. (Image: El Espectador)

Free bike for loan on Ave. Septima - but only for use on Ave. Septima. A real public bicycle program is still just a promise.

Mayor Petro won cyclists' gratitude by closing part of Ave. Septima to car traffic during the day and adding a bike lane to the street.

Posters promoting cycling cover poles along Ave. Caracas.

A bici-carril, an innovative bike lane for Bogotá, near the Universidad Nacional. Neighbors objected to the lane taking space away from cars, and even pulled out the dividers at one point.

A cyclist fights with traffic on Ave. Caracas.

But cyclists still fight for a bit of space amidst chaotic, polluting traffic.

Motorcycles continue proliferating. Can you spot the lonely bicyclist in this picture?

And bicycles with motors, called ciclomotores, have proliferated as well. This one is on Ave. Septima's bike lane, even tho that's supposed to be only for real bicycles.

Meanwhile, the city's thousands of bicitaxis remain technically illegal and subject to police harrasment and confiscation.  

And air pollution? City authorities still haven't noticed it.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours.