Bicycles are a necessary a part of the Colombian id — ubiquitous, cheaper and, in some city communities, typically a quicker technique to get round.
No Colombian metropolis embodies using on two wheels greater than the capital, Bogotá, the place the metropolitan space of almost 11 million inhabitants has no subway system and a number of the world’s worst visitors jams.
Town has over 1.1 million bicycles, based on officers, and data almost 900,000 bicycle journeys per day. On Sundays and holidays, greater than 80 miles of main streets are shut down, a convention that usually attracts two million individuals at a time.
“It’s the D.N.A. of this metropolis,” stated Bogotá’s mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán.
However numerous robberies and assaults of cyclists this yr have left many riders in Bogotá on edge. A current information report estimated {that a} bicycle was stolen within the capital each 42 minutes and small gangs of thieves have focused cyclists.
“The insecurity for cyclists is at a most excessive,” stated Yim Ángel, a founding father of the Bicycle Collective, an advocacy group. “Cyclists contribute to the surroundings, to transportation, to well being, to sports activities, to recreation. However on this second, we don’t have a assure of safety to maneuver round freely in Bogotá. We’re scared.”
Bicyclists, from on a regular basis commuters to die-hard riders, and advocacy teams have demanded that the town do extra to make the town safer for them, and Mr. Galán, who took workplace in January, stated officers had been already exploring quite a lot of steps.
Whereas police information exhibits that bike thefts have dropped in recent times, an increase in some varieties of violent crimes in Bogotá final yr, like robberies, sexual assaults and carjackings, has fueled rising issues that the sprawling metropolis is turning into much less protected, together with for cyclists.
Including to the uneasiness has been a string of violent crimes, together with the killing of a businessman and a number of armed robberies, in additional prosperous and normally quieter elements of the town.
Mr. Galan, in an interview, stated he nervous that elevated concern was inflicting individuals to desert extra environmentally pleasant methods to maneuver round Bogotá.
“There are a lot of individuals who can do journeys of 4, 5, six blocks from residence to work or to go purchase one thing, however as we speak they’re doing it by automobile, but may very well be doing it by bicycle or on foot,” he stated. “That’s why, for us, safety is a basic precedence.”
David Santiago Cortés Peña, 23, who runs a bicycle store in Bogotá and rode on an expert biking group final yr, set out not too long ago on a roughly 30-mile coaching experience to a city outdoors the town.
Round 5:30 a.m., en path to assembly associates on the base of the mountain close to the place he lives, Mr. Cortés stated a person jumped out from behind a tree in the dead of night. He tried to maneuver across the man, however he stated the person fired at him, a bullet grazing his eyebrow and forcing him off his bike.
As he lay bleeding on the bottom, Mr. Cortés stated, he noticed the person racing off along with his bicycle, which price him $3,500. To pay for it, he had taken out a mortgage, bought some belongings and received assist from his older brother.
“It was an effort by the entire household throughout a whole yr to pay it off,” he stated.
He had insurance coverage for his bicycle, nevertheless it had lapsed in December and he had not renewed the coverage. He had additionally determined it was getting too costly to pay for one thing that many superior riders within the metropolis use — a bike escort.
As of late, Mr. Cortés is utilizing a borrowed bike, and stated he would experience solely in daytime and would rent an escort.
“I’ll find yourself with out financial savings,’’ he stated, “nevertheless it’s higher for security.”
Luis Fernando Guarin, 37, was not on a coaching experience when he fell sufferer. He was doing what many in Bogotá use their bicycles for: commuting to and from work. He stated a nine-mile journey every means that will take two hours by public bus takes half that point pedaling on two wheels.
“It additionally de-stresses me,” stated Mr. Guarin, who works for a telecommunications firm.
He was using residence on a current Friday evening on a bicycle path alongside a serious street when, he stated, he was accosted by 4 males who jumped out from behind some bushes making an attempt to rob him. When he resisted, Mr. Guarin stated, he was stabbed twice within the stomach earlier than his attackers made off along with his bike.
He tried to file a police report on-line from his cellphone whereas on the hospital and at residence, however he stated the web site to enter such experiences was not working. He additionally by no means made it to a police station to do it in particular person. Even when he had logged a report, Mr. Guarin stated, he had little religion that his bike can be recovered.
Town operates a bicycle register designed to make it simpler to establish stolen bikes and return them to their homeowners. To date, 400,000 bikes have been registered, based on Mr. Galán, the mayor, who want to see that quantity rise considerably.
Of the 1,100 bikes stolen within the metropolis within the first two months of this yr, solely about 15 % have been recovered, he stated. Specialists stated many thefts may very well be thwarted if cyclists locked their bikes or used stronger locks after they weren’t using.
Mr. Ángel, who helped type the bicycle advocacy group a number of years in the past after the deadly capturing of a bike owner in Bogotá, stated his group had postponed two current protest rallies after holding discussions with officers about enhancing bicycle security.
The group has pushed 10 suggestions, a few of which mirror what the town is contemplating setting up within the coming months.
Mr. Galán rattled off a listing of doable steps: specializing in the 5 neighborhoods the place the vast majority of bike robberies happen; growing police presence on major roads; putting in extra avenue cameras and lights; making it simpler to file police experiences; and growing the punishment for robberies as a stronger deterrence.
Andrea María Navarrete, who was the town’s biking supervisor from 2021 to 2023, stated making biking safer would additionally to assist tackle a big gender disparity amongst cyclists and encourage extra ladies to bike.
“If ladies don’t understand danger within the infrastructure, meaning everybody will take pleasure in it,” she stated.
Mr. Galán promised to construct on the town’s mobility achievements to grow to be “the bicycle capital of the world.”
“I do know many individuals will criticize that saying, ‘With a lot insecurity, how are you going to say that?’” he added. “It’s true: We’ve got safety issues that we’re making an attempt to resolve. And we now have to maintain increasing the bike paths and bike lanes so individuals can transfer round. This metropolis has a really particular connection to the bicycle.”
Simón Posada contributed reporting.
