Remember back in April when Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard ordered all his city's bureaucrats to set a good example by riding their bicycles to work the first Monday of every month?
Apparently that plan has paid off, to a point, according to published reports. No, the city's 9 million residents aren't choking the streets with bicycle traffic. But, his order has sparked a nationwide discussion on bike commuting, and thousands ride their bikes around town on Sunday when the city streets have been closed to vehicular traffic.
Just as importantly, the World Bank is giving Mexico City a $100,000 grant to design a bicycle master plan, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The city wants to create 186 miles of bike lanes and install bike racks at train and bus stations.
Guadalajara is another city (population 5 million) where city officials are pushing bicycle use by closing the streets on Sundays. The program chief told the newspaper that more than 100,000 people hit the streets on Sundays.
As excitement about bicycling grows, a member of Ebrard's political party has introduced legislation to fund bicycle programs in 56 cities in Mexico.
But in spite of all this offical good vibrations about bicycling, it still faces a problem common to cities everywhere, even where cycling is popular. Says Gerardo Villanueva, a federal congressman:
“In this country, there is not a culture of motorists respecting cyclists. That has to change, so that riding a bicycle in Mexico City is not a heroic act.”
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