By Deja Dragovic
Eco-Journalist Deja Dragovic writes about sustainability topics from her international perspective. This is a repost of her article on what some cities are doing to encourage urban bicycling. Her blog site is http://arebelwithacause.org
The great potential of cycling is that it is low-impact, requires less road capacity, is non-polluting, and recreational.
In 2010 London implemented an action plan that introduced a bicycle hire program to encourage more cycling, relieve overcrowding on public transport, improve its efficiency, help cut traffic congestion, and eventually significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The plan’s long-term objective is to make cycling an equitable and sustainable solution for cities looking to overcome the socio-spatial segregation and even out the distribution of public services across greater territorial expanses in an attempt to lessen traffic and the mass use of private cars on short journeys.
Imposing central congestion charges in main cities, along with minimal parking spaces and high parking charges, has contributed to reduced private car use in the central core.
New and improved measures that promote cycling conditions are important: properly planned cycle lanes, safe streets with slow-moving traffic, parking at transit stations, etc. The scheme’s effortless procedure, procurable on the spot, online and at numerous tourist points, shows flexibility and openness.
This program was inspired by the Parisian Velib, which has worked wonderfully there, remodeling not only its transportation and tourism scene, but also the Parisian lifestyle.
Divided into 20 quarters/neighbourhoods, the city is laid out in a spiral-like shape, pragmatic and brilliantly planned out so that its urban design compliments the transit around the city that services its own constant flux.
The coiled pattern was so constructed to ease traffic congestions and the burdens of transportation flow, although the daily commuters still may face some gridlock.
A few years ago Paris presented the first-ever bicycle rental project and thus revolutionized not only its transportation and tourism scene, but also its social one.
Simple, practical and highly original, after its debut in 2001 Velib project took off flying in Paris, and was soon after implemented in other French cities, and then worldwide. Available 24/7, it became the perfect alternative to night buses and taxis, and residents and tourists all jumped aboard.
The Velib scheme (en francais: velo liberate) was so popular it was dubbed the “velorution” due to great benefits, including: the restitution of urban spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, reduced traffic and transit times, strengthening of the transportation networks and their sustainable projections, less pollution, and more recreation.
Toronto unveiled the new Bixi rental scheme, hoping to join the ranks of global cities that already have extensive bike rental networks. However, Bixi doesn’t seem to be as user-friendly as those encountered elsewhere.
It’s pretty expensive and there’s only 1000 bikes, all within a narrow downtown core (meaning: they can be rented and returned only there; 30min riding limit).
It’s not the choice most would make, especially given the already existing problems with Toronto’s bike infrastructure.
So firstly the city needs to improve the cycling framework and address the gaps in the existing network, in order to be able to accommodate the already large volume of regular cyclists and the new rental population.
In 2011 the city was brimming with proposals for a bike lane network, given the need for a continuous bicycle system in the downtown core. But the plan appears to have halted right from the onset with different proposals trumped.
This plan attempts, but comes up short in solving one of the greatest deficiencies in the cycling network — the poor connectivity and discontinuous routes in downtown, which oftentimes start or stop suddenly, forcing cyclists to merge into busy traffic.