Bogota is the latin city with the most cyclists and tracks for bicycles
For a long time I knew that in Bogota the number of bicycles was impressive, when I was in my country, Venezuela, I could see programs that highlighted this particularity.
I arrived in this country, Colombia, the truth without much planning, driven by the conditions and in search of better options, without imagining that I would join the list of people who make use of the hundreds of kilometers on a bicycle, traveling through the city Bogota for work reasons mounted on my bike (as they say here, or bicycle as it is called in Venezuela), anyway, whatever the name assigned, is one of the most used means of transport, approximately 5 % of the trips that are made are made in this means of transport.
Perhaps one of the reasons is that this is one of the countries with the most expensive fuel in the world, and that makes the cost of the passage is very high, consuming much of the family income. In addition, traffic, as in practically any big city, is very congested, causing that arriving at any destination is quite delayed by traffic jams (as the congestion is called here)
"Of the 2,513 kilometers of bike paths that exist in the continent, Bogotá has 392, which makes it the city with the greatest number of routes for the transit of cyclists. The capital of Colombia surpasses cities such as San Pablo (271) and Buenos Aires (130); and it is the place where more people travel by bicycle daily, since about 611,000 trips are made, while in Santiago de Chile 510,000 are made and in Mexico City 433,000."
The bicycle tracks are always with traffic, I can compare it with what happens on highways and vehicular roads, in which peak hours (6-7 am, 12m-1pm and 5-6pm) the number of people circulating is Awesome.
Even at night (10-12pm), it can be used by many, although it implies taking certain risks such as crime, which never fails, or by the absence of light in some areas could have an accident. However, its use does not diminish.
You can see different types of bicycles, from those that work with electricity to others that adapt a small engine that runs on fuel.
Within the transit, one can go through different types of environments, social strata, slums, urbanizations, parks, among many others.
There is signage that goes from traffic lights, prohibition of transit of motorcycles by the cicloruta, or of dogs, all a normative one.
Some people take the opportunity to create businesses around this road system, offering bicycle repair services, or parking, you can also find on the sides of the bike path different types of informal economy that offer food of different types, changing rooms for rainy weather , shoes, anyway, what is sought.
I travel many kilometers daily, approximately 60 kilometers only on Saturdays, and it is definitely a healthy alternative, since it allows me to exercise daily, contribute to nature by not contaminating it, and save me a lot of money in passage.
For now, it's all, I hope you enjoyed this tour of Bogotá through your bike path.
Until a next publication.
