Short news: Whether Berlin, Bogotá or London. The world's metropolises are in the grip of the corona pandemic. However, the crisis has consequences that many cyclists would have expected last. While car traffic and the use of public transport have decreased noticeably in almost all major cities in recent weeks, bicycle traffic has increased significantly. And so the cosmopolitan cities are converting their transport systems, at least temporarily, to cyclists and pedestrians.
Berlin's face is changing
While some worry that the empty streets won't encourage some motorists to speed, others are taking action and converting the open traffic space. Additional bike lanes, new bike lanes and significantly wider sidewalks. It is precisely these measures that are currently occupying city employees. If you are out and about in the federal capital, for example, you should not be surprised if you meet staff in high-visibility vests spraying bikes on the asphalt with spray cans and drawing thick lane lines.
Global action from Oakland to Mexico City
In the USA and Canada, too, many cities are reallocating their traffic space to promote health-promoting cycling. The city of Philadelphia, for example, has closed 4,7 miles of the famous Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to motorized traffic on the riverside side of the boulevard.
Oakland wants to close a total of 74 miles of its road network to motor vehicles. That is at least 10 percent of the total road network in the metropolis. Even the world's largest city, Mexico City, is cyclist-friendly. A temporary network of cycle paths over 130 kilometers long is currently being built here on the city's main traffic routes.
"More space in the fight against the crisis"
That's the motto in many places. That is only logical and consistent. After all, sidewalks in big cities are often overcrowded. This causes stress even outside of a crisis like the current corona pandemic. Currently, however, the additional space for bike lines and sidewalks helps to equalize the volume of traffic and give people more space to maintain an appropriate distance. This further drastically reduces the already minimal risk of becoming infected in the fresh air.
An experiment for the future?
Even if the current measures come from compulsion, they could be a traffic and social experiment for the future. An experiment that shows us whether and how it is possible to give more space to cycling in our cities. After all, the switch of many short-distance commuters to the bicycle would come with numerous advantages. Both for the environment and the economy as well as for individual health.