AROUND THE WORLD

If it’s bicycles, it must be Belgium... Here’s how some other countries are promoting bike culture. South Africa, are you taking notes?

France

The French ecology ministry asked a group that promotes the use of bikes to help officials co-ordinate the creation of temporary cycling paths.

Germany

In Berlin, pop-up cycling lanes have been set up to encourage social distancing.

In the state of Baden-wuerttemberg, home to Daimler-ag, the government is doubling its investment in bike and walking lanes to 58 million Euros.

United States

New York announced that it would temporarily open 160km of roads to pedestrians and cyclists — a move that may lead to permanent closure to vehicular traffic. In May, bike shops in NY reported shortages of bikes as demand outstripped supply.

Oakland plans to shut down about 10% of its streets to cars during the pandemic.

Seattle will permanently close 32km of roads to cars.

Belgium

A new scheme aims to create around 40km of cycle lanes in central Brussels, to ease traffic jams.

Italy

Milan will make 35km of city streets more accessible to bikers and walkers, so that commuters can avoid public transport and traffic jams.

Colombia

Bogota pretty much invented the Ciclovia (cycle way) concept. Cars are banned from 120km of city roads every Sunday morning from 7am to 2pm, when two million city residents take to the streets to cycle, jog and rollerblade.

way we travel?

“The time is now,” says Gordon Laing, an advocate who currently consults to corporates, local and provincial authorities and NGOS on sustainable transport solutions.

Laing not only advises; he was involved in developing a cycling strategy for Cape Town and Stellenbosch, and is a fierce promoter of cycling as a means of transport rather than just a sporting or recreational activity.

“To be honest, we should be in a much better position in South Africa than we are. There is a car paradigm here that is hard to change, for various reasons. But the reality is that cycling offers a socially-distanced means of travel; and now is the time for us to use this chance to make more serious progress.”

When it comes to using cycling for travel and commuting, Laing is a zealot. But for good reason. He believes that in cities such as Cape Town, there’s been a lot of focus on sports cycling rather than on the role of the bicycle as a sustainable travel solution, especially post Covid-19.

“It enables people, giving access to opportunities and a means of travel,” Laing says. “That’s why so many cities are widening cycle lanes, reclaiming roads from cars and expanding networks – the Covid-19 crisis has forced many of them to fast-track. Because now, cycling can help solve a public health issue.”

Besides the obvious health benefits of a nation that cycles to work – rather than commuting by bus, train, taxi or car – more people on bicycles will also have an ecological impact: a cleaner city with less pollution.

“Moving to a more cycling-based transport model also means less congestion, and in the long term it’s more sustainable,” Laing says. “But this crisis has now given a cycling strategy some teeth. What needs to happen is that we need to dust off the plans that have already been drawn up for cities like Cape Town.” BIGGEST MOVER

Arguably, Paris has been the biggest mover in terms of extending cycling routes, resulting in a revolution in the cycling industry. The citizens of Paris have been incentivised, receiving a 50-Euro donation towards repairing that old bike that may have sat in the garage for a decade. The city is also offering cycling lessons for newbies.

And Parisians are taking up the offer in droves, with many shops unable to keep up with demand for repairs and for new bikes.

The same is happening in both New York and London, where bike shops are seeing a huge increase in the sale of mid-range machines. Coupled with the increasing number of people who may never return to a five-day office work week, cities may soon be quieter and more cycling-friendly than ever.

And to add the further impetus required to turn a city like London into a two-wheeler haven, Britain’s Minister of Transport Grant Shapps announced in May that the UK government would devote two billion pounds (around R43 billion) to the establishment of pop-up cycling lanes, pedestrian lanes, and closing roads to public vehicles.

“Paris was already planning to ‘de-car’ the city, and the pandemic crisis is speeding up the progress of those plans,” says Laing. “They’ve taken the opportunity.”

But transport guru Richard Gordge believes the South African challenge is unique – and more difficult to overcome than in more developed countries.

“There have been many plans, but we haven’t seen any great changes at government level,” says Gordge, who heads up the Transport Futures consultancy and has been involved in sustainable transport plans for Cape Town, Stellenbosch and more recently London.

“So if we can’t rely on government, we need to look at civil society and business to create the shift. Plus, in South Africa we need to consider that the people who would most benefit from cycling to work, can’t afford bikes. That’s the first thing

Once a lifelong car commuter has taken part in a cycling-to-work challenge, they suddenly realise that cycling is a viable form of transport.

we need to solve.”

But socio-economic challenges aside, Gordge still believes there’s a great opportunity to change the way that South African cities travel – using bicycles.

Gordge – who describes himself as someone who cycles all the time, for recreation, transport, and even to go to the shops – believes SA’S future lies in some of the successes achieved in London.

“We’ve undertaken major demonstration exercises, creating competitions with businesses to see which business can get the most employees to cycle to work, or at least do part of their journey by bike.

“For a lot of businesses in the UK, they see great marketing value in this. When a company can say they ‘won’ a commuter challenge, they see how good it is for the image of the company, both externally and internally.”

For Gordge, demonstration exercises give both business and employees a chance to see what is possible.

“Once a lifelong car commuter has taken part in a cycling

to-work challenge, they suddenly realise that cycling is a viable form of transport.”

Back in 2005, Gordge was in charge of setting up the transport plan across South Africa for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, and saw how urban areas could be transformed if there was sufficient will.

“You still need an effective public transport system that runs in parallel with a cycling strategy; but when it comes to journeys of less than 10km, when traffic isn’t flowing faster than 10-15km/h, the bicycle is the cheapest, most space-efficient and environmentally friendly way of getting people from point A to point B.

“It’s also the most cost-effective solution.”

In cities such as Cape Town, Gordge suggests, the suburbs create easy-to-implement ‘quiet areas’ that make it easier for cyclists and pedestrians to get between places, and harder for cars. Once these areas are up and running you can go about connecting them, creating a cycling corridor.

BEYOND RECREATION

For both Lang and Gordge, the biggest challenge is convincing authorities and civil society that cycling is not just a recreational pastime.

“It’s about understanding that you can ride to work at a pace that means you don’t sweat. You learn ‘commute speed’… it’s quite a tough thing to get your head around, in South Africa,” says Laing.

Part of the solution may lie with organisations such as Cape Town’s Open Streets, which has run days, and initiatives that close down certain streets to traffic, allowing access only to walkers, cyclists, skateboarders and vendors.

The Open Streets days are wildly popular with Capetonians, which suggests that reclaiming streets from motorised vehicles is possible.

“Yes, cities around the world are opening up streets to help with social distancing and allow people to get around,” says Open Streets Managing Director Rebecca Campbell. “There’s a lot of discussion now about how we can normalise the use of bikes across all spheres.

“There are examples in Iceland and Colombia, where roads are closed at various times for bikes and pedestrians. There are tons of ideas and initiatives going on in this space, around the world.”

But closing down roads regularly in South African cities remains a challenge, as it is even for the few organised Open Streets days.

“To create localised closures would take a lot of work,” Campbell says cautiously. “But I agree – this is the time to do it.”

Open Streets Operations Manager Kirsten Wilkins perhaps sums it up best: “What have we learnt? Cars are a less permanent feature than we thought. Bikes are for every day. Streets should and can support that. Talk to neighbours about positive things, like closing down a portion of a road on weekend mornings, or creating a bike track in a local park.

“Kids need space to learn to ride bikes, and adults seem to quite enjoy teaching instead of racing. Local government is actively working on more immediate plans to respond to the opportunity of a less car-dominant society. Nobody wants to go back to how it was.

‘The big idea is that local interventions create the biggest change. Start where you are. Make a mark. Tell your story!”