Colombia’s capital Bogota is becoming increasingly bicycle-friendly and now has 13 stations of its mass transit bus system equipped with free bicycle parking garages.
Two new bike stops on Monday were opened in central bus hub Americas, and another on Calle 26 raising total number of available places to more than 2300.
On its official website, the Bogota city council states that it is keen to encourage the use of bicycles by Bogota citizens and invest in environmentally friendly transport options that contribute to environmental care.
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Parallel to the development of the TransMilenio bus system, the Bogota city council began the construction of a network of bike paths, which is currently the largest in Latin America, with 374 km of dedicated bus lanes.
Bogota was voted the third most bicycle friendly city worldwide by online bike enthusiast magazine Bicycling in 2010.
More than 120 km of Bogota’s streets are closed to motor vehicles every Sunday and on public holidays for Ciclovia, when cyclists can take over the streets without fear of being affected by traffic.
MORE: Bogota named world’s 3rd most bike-friendly city
About 2 million people attend each event, which includes musical performances and group-fitness classes in parks and public squares.
Bicycling Magazine is not the only publication to proclaim the scheme as one of Bogota’s highlights. USA Today wrote that during the Ciclovia event the city’s “normally jammed thoroughfares miraculously vanishes, making way for thousands of free-wheeling cyclists.”
The Ciclovia is becoming a popular scheme throughout Colombia, and copy-cat projects have been set up in the cities Medellin and Cali.
Sources
- Desde hoy, TransMilenio tiene tres nuevos cicloparqueaderos (El Tiempo)
- Cicloparqueaderos (Transmilenio website)
- 5 International Bike-Friendly Cities (Bicycling)
