Because of the pandemic, the so-called 15-minute city model that is trending in many urban centers globally has become more relevant. This model revolves around the idea that communities are set up in such a way that residents have all the goods and services that they need—groceries, schools, church, clinics, park, etc.—within 15 minutes of walking and cycling. Traffic congestion and pollution are lessened, while the quality of life improves. Pandemic lockdowns made the need to have all our necessities within reach plausible. Cities needed to be independently resilient in order to survive.
Nearing the end of the pandemic holocaust, we now realize that many of the good habits we have acquired in our city life, we would want to retain moving into the new normal. One of these definitely is cycling mobility. Yes, pedestrian traffic grew as well but city cycling found resurgence. We are after all a tropical country and walking beyond five minutes is a strain for the majority. With cycling, travel distance is greatly increased but effort to do so not as strained. If there is one factor that can purely contribute to making cities more livable and sustainable, in the succeeding generations, it will be cycling. Hence, city planners will have to keep this in mind, not just in planning for our new communities but equally so in continuing to re-direct our present city and community network to making them more bike-friendly and bike-enticing.
Indeed, the Philippine government is responding to this need as more than $22 million were allocated two years ago to realize more than 500 kilometers of bike lanes, the single largest expenditure for this mode of transport in our country’s infrastructure history. However, there are more gaps to be filled and areas in the biking ecosystem that need to be addressed. Questions on future-proofing the present bike network exist. Some of the recently set up infrastructure are now broken—separators torn without replacement, and worn-down pavement markings; the absence of maintenance is very much evident. On the other hand, the enforcement of a bike-only lane is now spotty after being highlighted with strict enforcement in its early months. In order to make this sustainably work, it will take more than the national government’s involvement. Local governments need to make cycling a welcome habit for their constituents, with private entities willingly participating and accepted by the government as partners in this endeavor.
A good bike-city model that we can emulate is Paris, France. Under the leadership of its mayor, Anne Hidalgo, Paris has been transformed into a premiere “cycling city” that sets cycling at the top of the mobility ecosystem. Once a traffic congested metropolis, the present Paris landscape has more bikes than motorized vehicles with around 1,000 kilometers of bike lanes connecting Paris from one end to the other, and with bicycle stands in almost all corners of its road network. To make this happen, more than 70 percent of all curbside car parking lanes were eradicated. This may force car owners to
grudgingly give up their cars. But that is the stick, the carrot being the city legislation currently being passed that will award motorists cash payments if they are to give up their cars in exchange of bicycles.
The bike city model applied to the Philippine city milieu is not that hard to achieve. First, its cost will definitely be a lot less than road or rail-based transport infrastructure. Bicycles are cheaper even to the point of having their cost to the user possibly subsidized by the government. The physical footprint of bike transport is smaller, therefore more capacity and with less carbon footprint. A healthier environment is guaranteed, as well as a healthier populace. All it needs really is political will.
Our local leaders will just need to see how this has benefitted the political career of Paris Mayor Hidalgo. Her Parisian constituents are contented and responding well to her low carbon initiatives. She is now on her second term as mayor. She is also in France’s presidential race, all because of her cycling platform in her city of Paris, France.
The author maybe reached thru: thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu