If you're a top-level bureaucrat for the Mexico City government, you get to ride a bicycle to work the first Monday of every month. Actually, you must. It's an order.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard issued the order in February to prove that bicycles are a workable option for commuting in the city and to promote the use of bike paths.
Something's got to be done to solve traffic, pollution and congestion problems in Mexico's capital city of 18 million people. Some 4 million cars use the streets everyday, making it one of the most crowded and polluted cities in the world.
Low biking rate
Right now, only 0.7% of trips in the capital are by bicycle, according to the BBC. Ebrard wants to raise that to 2% in three years and 5% in six years.
We might tsk-tsk the Mexicans for depending on cars for travel, but it's certainly no better in the US.
In Del Norte, we make fewer than 1% of our trips by bicycle, according to information provided by Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenaur. If we could raise the nationwide average to 2% — the current achieved in some bike friendly communities — it would save nearly 700 million gallons of gasoline a year and reduce carbon emissions.
For comparison, as many as 33% of all trips in Amsterdam are made by bicycle.
Making a highly publicized effort to get a city's top officials to bicycle to work would certainly capture people's attention and reinforce the idea that public transportation and bicycle facilities are available to commuters.
Ebrard isn't just making rash orders. He also has issued a pamplet on urban cycling and is planning a bicycle station just for use by city employees.
See the Environmental Defense website to read more about bicycle commuting trends.
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