IT took a pandemic for the government to seriously promote bicycle riding for everyday transport and consider ways to ensure the safety and convenience of bicycle riders. Better late than never.
The Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) have started constructing protected bicycle lanes along Edsa, which they hope to finish this week.
MMDA Spokesman Celine Pialago said the bicycle lanes would be 1.2 meters wide.
The Move as One transport coalition said the bicycle lanes must be made wider. “A lane width of only one meter is dangerous for cyclists. The Netherlands Design Manual for Bicycle Traffic requires a bicycle lane width of 2 meters, while the Indonesian Public Works standards stipulate a minimum bicycle lane width of 1.5-1.75 meters,” it said. “Incorporating bicycles in the same road space can move 3-4 times more people than the same space used by cars. Edsa would achieve much higher people throughput.”
While Metro Manila has a long way to go before it could become as bicycle-friendly as Amsterdam or Copenhagen, the MMDA, at least, is on the right track.
Bicycle riding has become the most convenient way to get around cities amid various quarantine measures in the absence of adequate public transportation, but it is not exactly the safest, because our cities are not bicycle-friendly.
We hope the local government units in Metro Manila, as well as those in other urban centers around the country, would follow the MMDA’s lead and also build bicycle-friendly infrastructure in and around their jurisdictions, which include bicycle lanes, routes and trails, and even safe bicycle parking spaces, showers and changing facilities for cyclists. They could even work together to link the bicycle lanes and routes and integrate these for longer commutes across cities.
Bicycle lanes are not new, of course. Many of our cities have them already. But having a sign that says “bicycle lane” with lines along the roads or streets doesn’t quite cut it. What we need is a complete, continuous, protected and interconnected network of roads or tracks exclusive for bicycles, so that when a cyclist-commuter wants to go to work from Quezon City to Makati, for instance, he or she won’t be in any danger of getting run over or sideswiped by a car, bus or jeepney.
For instance, Marikina has 50 kilometers of bicycle paths that are built along its major thoroughfares that run parallel with its rivers and creeks, and that go in and around its subdivisions. It even has an office called the Marikina Bicycleway’s Office to look after cyclists’ needs.
In 1999, Marikina got a $1.3-million grant from the World Bank to promote bicycle-riding as an alternative means of transport. The mayor of the city then, Bayani Fernando, used the money along with local counterpart funds to build a bicycle network for the city.
It’s not just the bicycle paths that are laudable but also the policies that went along with it to increase the number of bicycle users compared to road users in the city. Among such policies were various clinics to teach young and old alike how to ride a bicycle safely, bicycle lending programs and even a bicycle loan for city government employees.
Fernando would later be appointed MMDA chairman. He said he hoped to replicate the same bicycle infrastructure in his city for the entire Metro Manila, but that didn’t happen.
While the pandemic has shut down public transportation and taken many private vehicles off roads—visibly clearing the air in our cities and simultaneously making bicycles the ideal commuting tool—what would happen when most cars, buses and jeepneys are back on our roads?
The government must ensure that the bicycle-friendliness of the metropolis and various cities around the country is here to stay.
Of course, significantly improving the safety of mass transportation should still be the DOTr’s priority during this pandemic. But having a comprehensive bicycle road network is complementary to this goal, and it is not that expensive to do, especially considering the billions in taxes and debts that are spent on new roads for motor vehicles.
We should not waste our clean-air gains, one of the few silver linings during this pandemic. Providing the right environment for bicycle riding can encourage more people of all ages to ride bicycles to go to school or work, or just for recreation and errands. This will not only save millions of pesos in fuel costs but also lead to healthier, pollution-free and more livable cities.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano