Bogotá, the capital of a country with a not so favourable reputation. The legacy of years of violence is reflected in the impressions of Colombia by many people. The intensity of the conflict in the country has dropped over the last decade however, and chances that you will find yourself in open warfare in this city are not present anymore. Along with dropping crime rates, the city is slowly but steady crawling up the list of recommended travel destinations. And why not discover this highly contrasting metropolis, populated by almost nine million inhabitants, by bike?
A view on Bogotá, with clearly visible construction works.
From tourists to thrill-seekers
We picked up our bikes in La Candelaria, the historic quarter in downtown Bogotá. The bright coloured buildings in La Candelaria date from Spanish colonial times and now serve as one of the most appealing tourist attractions in the city. But as we are geographers, we were eager to see less touristic parts of the city too. Our guide, a friendly man who originated from California (who is blogging about bicycling in Bogotá) understood us and guided us up the hill out of the historic centre. Being situated on an altitude of 2 600 meters, Bogotá is one of the highest elevated capitals in the world (after those of Bolivia, Ecuador and Bhutan). Navigation in the city is easy, with a mountain range in the west that won’t move and streets organized in a grid pattern. We had only just arrived in the city however, not adapted to the altitude, so we had to do the tour with the endurance of a 7-year old child and the risk of altitude sickness.
As we rode up the hill, more dangers became present. Ironically, the touristic centre is basically surrounded by neighbourhoods with a questionable reputation. We came across some policemen, who insisted that they would escort us in order to guarantee our safety as we cycled further. The general rule is that the higher you go, the poorer the neighbourhoods are and thus the more careful you have to be. Apart from being stared at, we didn’t feel unsafe as we were already used to being called a gringo.
Our group, guarded by police in a poorer neighbourhood.
A city and its familiar traffic problems
We made our way down again, thanked the policemen for their services and plunged into the central business district, a part of the city where a scale of other problems comes ashore. Bustling with people and traffic, we learned that the efforts to reduce traffic congestion are still not effective enough. Three major measures can be named that should reduce the car usage. First, the construction of Metro de Bogotá, which is projected to be in operation in 2021. Second, the construction of bike infrastructure throughout the city. Third, the bus rapid transit system called TransMilenio. A successful system, thanks to its affordability and its climate- and public-health friendliness, but overcrowded by commuters which eventually led to protests in 2012.
The development of a bicycle culture started off by top-down initiatives in 1998, when Enrique Peñalosa became mayor of the city. He discarded plans for a fifteen billion dollar highway system, and focused on pedestrianised streets, buses, parks and cycle paths instead. The succes of cycling in Bogotá should emerge from three steps. First, the construction of a cycle path network. When observed with a Dutch mindset, this infrastructure is still primitive however. Separate bike lanes are almost nowhere to be seen, and many bicycle paths are with paint annexed parts of the sidewalk. Second, the construction of other bicycle infrastructure. In order to integrate the cycling infrastructure with the TransMilenio, free cycle storage facilities were installed near major bus terminals. Third, by banning cars from the streets in a set area one day per week, as done so in other cities around the world too. Taking it to the next level, Bogotá is now even the first city in the world with a car-free week. All good initiatives, but it will continuously consume lots of time, money and effort to create a cycling environment which is suitable for most residents. That said, the bike lanes are far from suitable for families and older-aged residents. Potholes and other obstacles on bike lanes force cyclists to be very careful, and an unwanted and risky detour to the street amongst cars is often a necessary evil.
The residents who do use the bike lanes are mostly middle class young-aged males. Females are seldom seen, which is an indicator of the involved risks in cycling the streets of Bogotá. It is therefore not surprising that tourist guides recommend to do a bike tour on a car-free day, but that would ruin the suicide-cycle experience for us so we chose not to. We navigated our way out of the district with the skyscrapers and western fast-food restaurants. We rushed on to another intensely crowded part of the city, where bike lanes were welcomed by residents to use them for anything but cycling. Motorcycles and pedestrians happily use the space, as well as delivery carts and even street vendors who set up their stalls on the bike lane. Swirling around obstacles while keeping an eye on your belongings proved to be a challenging assignment. Pausing on a square, the guide commented “this is the square where you can buy your stolen goods back”. Good to know. After several other stops, we headed back to La Candelaria.
Proper bike infrastructure may be a bit less of a priority in this neighbourhood in the north of Bogotá
Bogotá has definitely set an example for other cities. The success of the TransMilenio and the policies on bike infrastructure haven’t gone unnoticed in cities like Santiago de Chile and Mexico City. Despite all this, cycling through Bogotá today is a vertiginous experience which may require some courage in certain situations. Although the pace of the development has slowed since Gustavi Petro became mayor of the city in 2012, Bogotá is still riding its long journey in becoming a fully-fledged cycling friendly city.
All pictures by Michiel Dekker.
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