I read an article about the the positive impact ofthe use of the bike inParis after the people receive a monthly compensation for going to job by bike, promoting a set of behaviors that benefits the whole city. This made me think about bike adoption in cities.
I´m becoming olderand I am able to lookwith
perspectivethe evolution of cities I visited 10 years ago.This week I was,in this order,inBerlin, Amsterdam andBarcelona. I will focus on the quality of lifeof those livingtherein terms ofuse of the bike10 yearsagoand today.
So,
Berlinhas not changed, so many people use the bike. It was 2003 the
first time I visited Berlin, in summer; This time in winter. You can see childrenarewrapped in their coatsthat canbarelymovethemselves, but here theyare. Herethe motto is:one street, onebike lane.
In Amsterdam there aremore bikesif possible, insome areasit is the maintransport, you can find piled
bikes, wood-bikes, fat-bikes. exclusive city-bikes.I asked if they still have the problem of biketheft,and they still have it. Ifthisenormous lovefor the bikes that Dutch people have you apply their knowledge ondesignonthe bikes, the consequence is easy:you have all kind of bikes.They have in The Hague a race of fat-bikeson the beach.
10 yearsago The Netherlands wasa pioneer in theuse of the bikeand today they still are on top of the list (atleast I think so).
Barcelonawas thebig surprise to me. The first timeI visited it there were only onebike laneon Diagonal Avenue andinthe sea-port area. Now you can find thousand of bike lanes, a municipalbike service, lots of bikesparked on streetlights
…The changeof such a largeand complex city as Barcelona cannot only be measuredby the existence ofbike-lanes, but you can see the change (maybe others do not agree with me). Bikes have won some space of the streets to the cars.
In contrastI look atMadrid,and I see nochange, the cars still ownthe streets.