Argentina

Buenos Aires Government Expands Public Bike System to Improve Transit, Health and Environment

The Buenos Aires city government is expanding its system of bicycle routes and free bicycle rentals. But expansion triggers debate about safety, parking and road etiquette.

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Buenos Aires Government Expands Public Bike System to Improve Transit, Health and Environment

Residents can rent bicycles for free at EcoBici stations in neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.

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BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – A 28-year-old woman of medium height with shoulder-length, straight hair nestles her purse and a bag of books in a basket on the front of her bicycle. After securing her belongings and adjusting her helmet, she starts her journey through Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, on her red bicycle.

The woman, Paula Amonacid, says she bought her bicycle more than six months ago. Despite initial reservations, she realized that it would ease her five-kilometer (three-mile) commute from her house to work.

“The truth is that I did not have the courage,” she says. “I thought that the issue of transit was going to be more complicated. But the truth is that it facilitated the transit for me.”

In fact, the new mode of transportation changed her life, she says. Previously, she took a bus to get to work. But she had to wait for it to arrive and then squeeze into the crowded vehicles.

Now, she feels as if she can go anywhere on her bicycle, she says. She just has to make sure she brings a pump and a tool kit to patch her wheels in case something punctures them.

In addition to being able to zoom through the city with ease, she says she enjoys the physical exercise.

“I like the topic of exercising, and I did not have time,” she says. “Now, I go to work on a bike, I exercise, and I am listening to music. It is really good for me. I am very happy.”

Bicyclists in Buenos Aires have access to more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) of bicycle lanes – which locals have baptized “bicisendas” or “bike routes.” A public loan service called EcoBici also allows users to rent bicycles for up to an hour free of charge.

The city government, which began constructing the bicycle routes in 2009, plans to extend them by 30 kilometers (18 miles) by the end of 2013, says Sonia Fakiel, spokeswoman for the city’s deputy minister of transportation, in a telephone interview. It also aims to increase the number of bicycle rental stations from 31 to 200 and the number of bicycles available for rent from 800 to 3,000 by 2014.

The government’s goals for the bicycle system are to reduce the number of cars crowding the city streets, to limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions harming the environment and to promote physical exercise.

The number of registered vehicles in Argentina doubled from 2001 to 2011, when the figure nearly reached 10 million, according to a 2011 report by the national Ministry of the Interior and Transportation. The country has the highest number of vehicles per capita in Latin America, with an average of one vehicle for every 4.3 residents.

Of those vehicles, more than 50 percent circulate Buenos Aires city and Buenos Aires province, according to the report. In addition to passenger vehicles, there are 144 bus lines and six underground subway lines in Buenos Aires city, according to the government.

The city government created the bicycle system to mitigate vehicular congestion, Fakiel writes in an email interview. The two-way lanes connect the various neighborhoods with the areas housing offices, hospitals and universities. They also interconnect the bicycle rental stations.

Amonacid says traveling in Buenos Aires by bus or subway is nearly impossible because public transportation is often crowded, especially during commuting hours.

The city government also aims to promote residents’ health by expanding the bicycle system.

Dr. Luis Bellingeri, who works in a government office attending to its employees, says that riding a bicycle offers crucial physical exercise.

“Physical activity is essential and necessary at every age,” Bellingeri says. “Regarding this point, the use of the bicycle as a means of transportation provides an extra benefit to prevent a sedentary lifestyle.”

Physical exercise also helps to counteract depression and stress, he says.

Riding a bicycle helps Amonacid to relax, she says.

“I get on my bike, listen to music and shake off my problems,” she says.

In addition to enhancing the health of riders, the city government also aims to benefit the environment with the expanding bicycle program. The bicycles do not require fuels or generate greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming by trapping heat.

Transportation causes about 33 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Buenos Aires, Fakiel writes. Of that 33 percent, private cars generate 42 percent of emissions.

Argentina emitted nearly 180 metric tons (200 short tons) of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – in 2010, according to a report by the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes the environment and socio-economic development.

The bicycle system aims to reduce the number of cars emitting greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. Many riders who use the lanes attach signs to their bicycles that read, “un auto menos,” which translates to “one less car.”

Amonacid now relies on her bicycle to get around.

“I go everywhere with the bicycle,” she says. “I go to work on bicycle. I do the full stretch in the cycle routes.”

It amazes her to see people of all ages also bicycling on the public paths, she says.

“The majority of my female friends travel by bike,” she says, “and you run into people of different ages on the bike routes.”

As the government expands the bicycle system, though, conflicts among bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists also surface. Safety, convenience and respect are the main concerns.

Pedestrians and motorists are not accustomed to the bicycle lanes, which has led to accidents, Amonacid says. It is common for pedestrians to cross the street without realizing that they are crossing the bicycle lanes, which generally line the left side of the street and run adjacent to the sidewalk. With vehicles, the problem occurs on street corners when motorists make turns without checking the bicycle lanes.

“You have to be attentive in order to avoid accidents,” Amonacid says.

Meanwhile, many motorists say the bicycle lanes inconvenience them because they encroach on vehicular traffic lanes and parking spaces.

Rafael Silva, 38, drives a van that he uses to transport furniture. Because the bicycle lanes run adjacent to the sidewalk, he is not able to park in front of the location where he has to collect furniture.

“The bike routes are a nuisance because they make the streets smaller and there is no place to park,” Silva says. “They steal a space from you where previously you were able to park.”

Many bicyclists do not respect traffic rules, he also says. For example, some cross the street during red lights.

In order to promote safety, the government avoided placing the bicycle lanes in high-traffic areas as well as erected physical dividers to separate bicycle lanes from vehicular traffic lanes, Fakiel writes. The government also built traffic signs and placed speed bumps on the streets where there are bicycle lanes in order to make motorists more conscious of bicyclists.

As the government continues to expand the bicycle system, riders also have ideas for how to advance it.

In the future, Amonacid says she would like to have an application on her cellphone that tells bicyclists which is the most convenient route to take in the public lane system.

“It is a little short of that,” she says. “For now, I enjoy it as it is.”

Amonacid arrives at the Hospital Infanto Juvenil Carolina Tobar García, a public psychiatric hospital for youth, where she works as a psychologist. She parks her red bicycle and takes her purse and the bag of books out of the basket.

"The trip was pretty cool," she says.