Happy Birthday Ciclovia?

So, the other week, Bogotá's famous Ciclovía celebrated its 35th birthday the other day. This Bogotá institution began with a few cyclists riding a several-block-long circuit along Seventh Ave., and has expanded into a major source of pride and recreation for millions of Bogotanos, and has been imitated (but not equalled) in other city, with names such as Via Verde and Sunday (or Summer) Streets. 

Unfortunately, recent mayors have not given Bogotá's Ciclovia the importance and priority that it deserves and needs to continue playing such an important role for the health and recreation of millions of Bogotanos. 

Last year, without public consultation, the city government suspended La Ciclovia along one of its major avenues, 26th St., because of work for expansion of the city's Transmilenio express bus system. To many of us, it seems that La Ciclovia could have continued functioning on 26th St. 

Now, many of us are worried that the same story will be repeated on 7th Ave., which is La Ciclovía's most popular, important and visible section. ÇWithout either Seventh Ave. or 26th St., La Ciclovia will be barely a shadow of its full self, millions of people will lose access to their recreation and hundreds of people who sell foods or services along the route will lose their incomes. 

The other day, I met with officials of the District's Institute of Recreation and Sport (IDRD), to talk about this and other issues. unfortunately, I left feeling less confident than ever in La Ciclovia's future. Will the Ciclovia be given an alternative, parallel route during construction on Seventh Ave.? Well, the officials told me, they've asked for one, but the decision is not up to them. I saw no sign that they had taken any sort of real stand to defend this institution which benefits so many people in Bogota. Similarly, I haven't seen mobilization on the part of the hundreds of informal vendors who depend on the Seventh Ave. Ciclovia for an important part of their income. Unfortunately, this sort of resignation in the face of the 'inevitable' and the decisions of authorities seems to be characteristic of Colombian society. 

Similarly, when I asked the officials about dealing with the growing problem of motor-powered bicycles producing noise and pollution on La Ciclovia, they basically shrugged their shoulders and said they had no legal way of excluding these machines. Are SUVs next?

Let's just hope that the Ciclovia survives to see more 'Happy Birthdays.'

But just don't call it a Ciclovia!

Dec. 10 was Bogotá's famous 'Ciclovia Nocturna,' or Nocturnal Ciclovía. Besides being at night, there was another difference between it and the normal Sunday/holiday Ciclovías - Seventh Ave. was so crowded that you could hardly walk, much less cycle, on it! Bogotá's world-famous Ciclovia is a wonderful institution. And so is this evening, when major avenues are taken from cars and given to the people. But this once-a-year event should better be called a pede-via or caminatavia.

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

Bicycles Near the Seat of Power

This group of bikes on the steps of Colombia's Congress invites reflection on why it is so seldom that bicycles and cyclists ever get near the seat of power, either physically or politically. 

These bikes also illustrate something else - bicycles' healing power. They are being ridden by a group of soldiers injured by land mines placed by guerrilla groups - part of the tragedy of Colombia's destructive war. Many have lost legs or feet, but they can still use bicycles. 

Tragically, bicycles have also been used as weapons in Colombia's war - there have been several cases of bicycle bombs.

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours and Rentals

Bringing Curry to Colombia by Bike!

In 1972, Arun Pal left Calcutta for Munich on a bicycle and ended up in Bogotá in 2009 running an Indian food restaurant. Read his whole story in The City Paper.

Does he still ride a bicycle? The world wants to know!

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours and Rentals.

See the world without windows.

An article in Bogotá's El Tiempo newspaper profiles two cyclists, who lament the state of some of the city's Ciclorutas, their disconnectivity, the lack of parking and the inconsideration of many motorists. A city official responds that some Ciclorutas are being extended and that the city's electrical utility intends to move posts located in the middle of some cycle routes.

My comments, as always, are that the troubles with Bogotá biking go deeper than these inconveniences. They include chaotic traffic and pollution. 

Bogotá DOES have the region's best bicycle route network and deserves credit for that. however, the city could and shoud do much more to make the city more bikeable if it wants this clean trasnport to help resolve its traffic jams and clean its air. 

http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/bogota/en-bicicleta-se-ve-elmundo-sin-ventanas-senalan-promotores-del-transporte-por-este-medio_6632187-1

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours

Tucson Bike Lawyer

Last week, we were visited by Erik Ryberg, a lawyer and bicyclist from Tucson, Arizona, who writes a blog called (of all things) TucsonBikeLawyer.com. Erik took a guided tour of the city's bike routes, rode on his own and rode in the famous Ciclovia. His impressions were varied - from admiration of some cycle routes and the Ciclovia, to disgust at the pollution and some unusable bike paths. 

Here's our conversation:

What are your general impressions of bicycling in Bogotá?

"The first thing I noticed compared to Mexico is the number of women on bicycles. In Mexico it's very rare to see women on bicycles. In all the time in Mexico I can only remember one woman on a bicycle. Commuting. Many ride do in their Ciclovia. 

"I also found the drivers really courteous. Compared to Tucson. In Tucson it's really common to find drivers going fast ride really close to you. In Tucson I was terrified of being hit from behind. In Bogotá, drivers do cut you off by turning in front of you. But being struck from behind wasn't a concern. 

"I actually didn't feel less safe here than in Tucson. In lots of ways I felt more safe. 

"And the Ciclorutas, given the constraints any city has, I thought they did a pretty good job. In the north they're beautiful, separated from the streets and so forth. That's not to say there aren't embarrassing places where they end, where they force you to do something dangerous, where there's a big hole in the route. I rode one where it was impossible to ride on the path because of the pedestrians. They put the cicloruta exactly where the (pedestrians) need to be. It's just a terrible design." 

And how about the pollution here?

"It's horrible. It's as bad as Mexico City. Pollution here is as bad as any place I've ever been. I was in Rome in the '70s and it's as bad as that. On Saturday it was a dystopia; the cars weren't moving at all and they were belching fumes." 

My observation: Well, hopefully it's not actually as bad as Mexico City. To its credit, the Colombia's state petroleum company has, very tardily, been reducing the sulfur content of the diesel fuel and the city has been trying, tho not nearly hard enough, to enforce emissions laws and to buy up and junk old, dirty buses. 

I expressed to Erik my frustration that so many things here just do not function sensibly: The city builds bike paths, but some are unuseable. There's little bike parking, and the expensive, new bike parking facility built near my neighborhood has never opened, years after construction...Erik tried comforting me by comparison with Tucson:

"We have a broken system in Tucson just like you have in Bogotá. We have a Ciclovia that's supposed to happen in March and may or may not happen. I want people to know what a Ciclovia is and for them to make an informed decision about it." 

But Bogotá, a city of eight million people, has no bicycle activist community! In relatively tiny Tucson, there is.

"In Tucson there's a lot of bike activists. There's a spontaneous ride every Tuesday night. The police tried to stop it, but didn't have much luck. I ended up representing a lot of people who got arrested or ticketed in that. It's not designed to aggravate drivers. We do our best to just take up one lane and stop at stop signs. We all ring our bells.

"We're winning: We're getting more and better bike infrastructure for sure. We're getting more respect from the police. When cyclists are hit by cars, the police don't automatically blame the bicyclist. There are just more and more of us. It's becoming a more legitimate way to get around town.

"You can put a bike on the bus. Tucson's buses get most places, but you have to wait about an hour."

If only that would happen in Bogotá! where increasing wealth and endless propaganda drive young people to want to buy cars. Here, unfortunately, bicycle commuters are mostly people who can't afford bus fare, much less cars.

Erik also observed something I've been griping about for years:

"The lack of bike racks around town is another issue. I saw a lot of people riding bikes, but where do they put them?"

In fact, a Bogotá law requires buildings and public parking lots to receive bicycles. But many do not. The last time I visited, not even the City Council building honored its own law.

But one thing did dazzle him: Bogotá's Ciclovia:

"I came because of the Ciclovia. It was pretty much what I expected. Although I hadn't expected the vibrancy of the whole aerobics dance thing. I'd seen the video of it, but it really helped to be there in person. I was really impressed with the skill of the people up on stage. I was really impressed with everybody. They obviously knew their jobs really well. Everybody was really happy. Everybody is always happy when they're riding bikes.

"Among bike advocates in America Peñalosa is really well known, and Bogotá's real well known as a place with a really ambitious bike route system and really ambitious Ciclovia. It'll be a shame if they continue chipping away at the Ciclovia."

(He refers to the fact that, for expansion of the Transmilenio express-bus system, the city has removed parts of the Ciclovia, including Boyaca Ave. and 26th St. - although we're pressing to get those back.)

And Erik said his experience here contradicted the popular image of Colombia

"Colombia has such a bad reputation in the states. Even now. People assume that if you're coming here, you're coming here to do cocaine. You'll get kidnapped. I rode my bike all over the place," and didn't get kidnapped! 

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours.

Another Victory for Bicycles!

Rush hour, but nobody's moving!
This morning, a cyclist, a Transmilenio rider and a car driver 'raced' 7.5 kms across Bogotá during the morning rush hour. Naturally, the cyclist (Ferreira, the city councilman who plan to create a public bicycles program) arrived first, in 20 minutes. The Transmilenio rider arrived ten minutes later, and finally the car driver, five minutes after him. 

Hopefully, this will convince a few more Bogotanos to cut their commute time in half by dusting off their bikes. Unfortunately, the Transmilenio rider, who also heads the National Federation of Retailers, FENALCO, did nothing but complain about the system's 'inhumanely' crowded conditions. It was, unsurprisingly, the first time that he'd used the system, and probably the last. Transmilenio is crowded because it works. I'm sure that he considers sitting in his car for hours trapped in traffic and spewing pollution much more humane. Incidentally, FENALCO wants to sell cars.

This blog is written by Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours