Comments on: The World’s 15 Most Bike Friendly Cities

By: Mike Ceaser

Mike Ceaser — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:09:15 +0000

Hola,

As a cyclist who’s lived in Bogotá for several years, I agree that the bike path network, the Ciclovía and the car-free day are all great contributions to cycling here. But Bogotá’s government needs to do lots more, such as building more bike paths, reducing pollution, building more bike parking and calming traffic before Bogotá can become a real ‘cycling city.’

Best,

Mike Ceaser
Bogotá Bike Tours

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By: Marcella Lesher

Marcella Lesher — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:05:15 +0000

I just did the Fat-Tire Bike Tour in Berlin. I’m completely sold on doing this kind of thing again and we rode through the rain part of the time! It was kind of like kids playing in a mud puddle. What a great way to see a city.

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By: Troy

Troy — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:43:36 +0000

Have to agree with George D on that one. The Guardian just published a piece on a fact finding mission by the U.K gov over to Denmark and Holland.

One of the mission’s most significant findings was regarding helmets. Like it or not, if cycling is seen to only exist in the realm of Lance Armstrongs, average Joe and Jane aren’t going to take it up.

Personally, I choose to wear a helmet, but I like it to be my choice, especially here in the mad streets of Spain.

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By: Hal Amen

Hal Amen — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:01:55 +0000

Wow, how long will that path be?! The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has something similar, built along an old railway bed. But it’s only a few hundred km long. This one’s gotta be huge! I’d love to come to NZ to ride.

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By: Grant Currie

Grant Currie — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:25:48 +0000

Great Article Hal.
Have you heard about New Zealand’s answer to beating the recession?

Apparently the my lovely government is going to build a cycle pathway the length of our country and in the process creating hundreds of jobs and saving quite a few companies from going to the wall.

So for it to work properly we will need all of the cyclists to come to New Zealand to ride on it otherwise it may end up being a complete waste of money!

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By: LA Bike Girl

LA Bike Girl — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:27:17 +0000

Unfortunately Bogota’s excellent bike infrastructure is hard to use if you’re a visitor. Bike rentals are expensive and hard to find. We did enjoy the ciclovia on foot, though! Bicycle use in the city actually hasn’t increased much either, despite the extensive network of ciclorrutas; it’s an interesting case that points to a need for a bicycling community before major infrastructure goes up. If you build it, will they come? Not in all cases.

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By: Travel Bavaria

Travel Bavaria — Sat, 02 May 2009 05:12:37 +0000

Would seriously look into München as a leading “Biker-Friendly ” city.

As a side note – the German government is initiating a project to make bike rentals more readily available throughout the country.

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By: Eva

Eva — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:10:53 +0000

“Making everybody wear helmets through fear campaigns is a great way to destroy a bicycle culture, and make cycling seem like a weird and dangerous thing to do.”

Just like how seat belts and airbags destroyed car culture…?

I too would love to see some stats for that comment. Ottawa has both a helmet law (and — best of all! — a “no biking on the sidewalk” law) and a thriving bike culture. Wearing a helmet is not a hardship, nor does it make biking seem weird or scary. The only reason I know of for people to refuse to wear them is, they don’t want to look silly. Which is a pretty dumb reason to alter our safety laws, don’t you think?

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By: Hal

Hal — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:34:29 +0000

@George D: Sorry George, I was just speaking of what I´d do if I were hopping on a bike. Feel free to leave your helmet at home!

@Carlo: Great points about bike culture vs. car culture. That´s a couple articles in itself!

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By: Carlo Alcos

Carlo Alcos — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:42:06 +0000

I don’t agree with that. First, I’d have to see proof of your claim, that helmet laws are directly responsible for people putting their bikes away. I also want to see proof that helmets provide minimal protection. I think if people wear them incorrectly that might be true, but let me hit you with a golf club with and without a bike helmet and let’s see how much it helps.

I think the reason the Netherlands and Denmark (and many other European countries) are safe despite no helmet laws is because bike culture was cultivated from day one. This is not so in NA and countries like Australia…where car culture has been impressed on everyone first and foremost (suburb development has certainly escalated this). No one knows how to behave around cyclists which makes it dangerous.

Simply putting more people on bikes isn’t going to educate drivers how to drive when cyclists are around.

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