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Her friends said she was too old to learn to ride a bike. That she would fall, that they would run over her. Until one day Lucero Sánchez, 37, decided to take part to a bike school in Naucalpan (Mexico State), where he was taught driving and safety rules. “I already know how to walk the streets, I can go anywhere in less time,” says this domestic worker. After a few sessions, Lucero now drives about 12 kilometers to work every day, most of the time on the bike paths.
She is part of the new wave of urban cyclists who have decided to change their mode of transport and who already account for 2.9% of total trips in Mexico’s main cities, according to the Cycle Cities Index 2021 prepared by the Institute for Transport and Development Policy (ITDP). This analysis evaluated 39 cities in Mexico and connected to two in Latin America (Bogotá and Buenos Aires) to analyze the capacity to promote non-motorized transport.
In these cities, the cycle path with a total of 2,733 kilometers of exclusive lanes for bicycle traffic is created at the push of a button. Of the 39 locations analyzed, more than half have a good score in terms of infrastructure development such as bike lanes and safe roads, incentives such as public bicycles, and education and empowerment. “Very good steps have been taken, perhaps not as fast as the cities in North America, but the way forward is visible in citizen and government participation,” Bernardo Baranda, ITDP Latin America Director.
The legal framework got its first boost in 2019, when the right to mobility was recognized in Article 4 of the Mexican Constitution, while late last year the General Law on Mobility and Road Safety was passed, which stipulates that local governments must create conditions for transfers to be safe and carried out on a larger scale in a sustainable manner.
From relaxation to sustainability
When construction of bike lanes began in major cities (mostly Mexico City and Guadalajara) a little over a decade ago, the bike lanes were viewed more as a means of recreation, walking, or exercise than a means of everyday transportation. . Today, 35 cities have exclusive lanes for cyclists, and at least nine of them have more than 100 kilometers of corridors connected with strategic roads.
At the forefront of that effort, Mexico City today has just over 316 kilometers of bike lanes, or shared bike lanes, followed by Querétaro at just over 300 kilometers and Guadalajara at 253 kilometers. Only Monterrey, a heavily urbanized metropolis, has less than 5 kilometers of exclusive bike lanes.
As regional references, Bogotá and Buenos Aires in South America set an example of practices promoting non-motorized mobility. The Colombian capital now has 593 kilometers of cycle paths, making it one of the cities on the continent with the best infrastructure. In Buenos Aires, cyclists have 272 kilometers of exclusive lanes derived from sustainable mobility plans.
The stigma of the “bicycle city”
In 20th-century Mexico, the term “bicycle city” was used to derogatorily refer to the communities that used this mode of transportation and where the progress represented by automobiles and major highways had not yet arrived. A hundred years later, the stigma of a supposedly motorized modernity still weighs heavily on some cities.
Just a few weeks ago, the governor of San Luis Potosí in the Bajío proposed removing a bike lane from one of the state capital’s main avenues, on the pretext that “it will be a fast lane and businesses will benefit from being on that road,” he said End of June. The reaction of Potosí cyclists was immediate and they demonstrated to demand that the rights acquired in pursuit of safe mobility in the center be respected. So far the bike path has not been removed. “These studies show with data that on the streets where there are bike lanes and sidewalks [aceras], trade is not affected. On the contrary, pedestrians and cyclists enliven the streets,” says Baranda.
A young woman moves along one of the bike lanes being built in the central Mexico capital of Querétaro. JamMedia (Getty Images)
Cities rolling into the future
The goal of the countries that have joined the action against climate change is to ensure, by educating and raising awareness of society, that every city is able to provide bicycle infrastructure for 25 million people and be friendly with this mode of transport by 2025 by state and civil society efforts, such as B. Bicycle schools or public or shared bicycle systems.
“These are cyclical processes that take time, but political will at the highest level is imperative,” says Baranda. “Definitely getting more people on bikes is the first step in creating public policy,” says the director of ITDP. The creation of manuals for the urban cyclist, as in Mexico City, the credits for the purchase of bicycles to public employees of the City Council of Mérida, or proposals such as the one in Zapopan (Jalisco) that rewards those who cycle through the city encourage the Use and mobilize people. In Latin America, there is the Safety Observatory of Buenos Aires to analyze traffic incidents, a mechanism that other cities on the continent are trying to emulate in order to promote this mode of transport.
“I think more schools like this are needed in other places in Mexico,” reflects Lucero Sánchez. “Knowing that you can walk more safely is very important, that’s good,” she says. More and more cities across the continent are pedaling towards a future where the bicycle is a safe option for urban mobility and where its residents have more alternatives to learn about and live in a sustainable way.