Every Sunday between 7AM and 2PM, the city of Bogota shuts down several major roads and allows people to bike, rollerblade and run. Known as the ciclovia, it has become a major community activity. According to the Bogota mayor's website, they shut down over 70 miles of road throughout the city and provide a number of officials to watch and guide traffic and to rent bikes. The ciclovia is also part of Bogota's push to promote public transportation and has increased sales of bicycles nearly 1,000% in the last eight years. I know I saw hundreds of people along my three mile route today, so I can only imagine that the number taking advantage of the ciclovia is in the tens of thousands.
Two blocks in, gasping for breath, I was also reminded that Bogota is 8,660 feet above sea level and I should slow down. Hopefully by next week my gringo lungs will be acclimated to the altitude and I can keep up a normal pace.
7 comments:
They do that once a year in Cochabamba, it's called Dia del Peaton (Pedestrian). There are no motorized vehicles on the road, except for emergency vehicles. It is such an eerie feeling to not hear motors running.
Everyone is walking or riding bikes and there is such a feeling of community on that day. Kids and adults play futbol in the middle of what would normally be busy city streets.
If you want to spend that day outside the city, you have to get really early in the morning because cars are only allowed until 9 am. Some try to defy it by driving, where they are met with whistles from all of the pedestrians.
It doesn't hurt the Cochabamba is such a compact city, where walking dozens of blocks seems like nothing.
At least one day per year (maybe more), they do a "dia sin carros" here in Bogota. Many people walk or bike or take the bus to work, which isn't easy in this city. However, certain cars get exemptions and there are still a ton of taxis everywhere, so you don't get the effect of the empty roads.
Being somewhat older than you guys, in 1974 when my Dad was stationed in Germany, during the Arab Oil Embargo, driving was banned on three successive Sundays. One of those days we had warm sunny weather and went down the middle of downtown Kaiserslautern in the middle of the road.
Another Sunday we had had a snowstorm the day before and I piloted my sled down side streets and hills for almost a mile. Great until you have to come back up.
Very interesting snippet of information. Not only does it do much for alternate modes of transport, but it shows a vital and completely glossed over contributor to the obesity / overweight crisis manifesting itself.
Everyone's doing less physical activity, while eating the same amount or more. And part of finding the solution is making it safe again to walk, run, blade and bike to transport ourselves.
Thanks for putting this up.
We are about to start a Ciclovia in El Paso, Tx. Every Sunday in the month of may -- see www.cicloviaelpaso.com
Go El Paso!! CicloVia is taking off in the USA!
I rode in the El Paso CicloVia this past Sunday, and it was awesome!
Old people, young people, joggers, cyclists, baby strollers, skateboarders, dogs, and people from all parts of the city. There are 3 more weeks of Ciclovia under this pilot project and then we see if the city wants to make it a summer-long,or better yet, year-long event.
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