By Leonie Gellweiler
In recent years, Bogotá has become one of the leading cities for urban cycling in South America. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bogotá attracted worldwide attention for being one of the first cities to install temporary bike lanes to promote socially distanced transportation1. This example was soon followed by many other cities around the world, including for example Berlin, Mexico City, Lima and Chennai2. Bogotá even went a step further and integrated 28 km of the 84 km temporary bike lane system into their rapidly growing permanent system3.
Between 2015 and 2021 alone, the bicycle infrastructure was expanded by an impressive 33%, from 443 km to 590 km 7,8. And it doesn’t look like they are stopping anytime soon. Bogotá’s 2020-24 Strategic Plan includes the goal to further expand the infrastructure to 830 km by 2024 as well as growing the number of cycle trips by 50% 4. In addition, the city established cycling as a priority mode of transportation in the city for future planning efforts in an official agreement from 20215.
Find the GIF here.
Sustainability for the Entire Transport System
In February Bogotá was awarded the 2022 Sustainable Transport Award for their great efforts in sustainable transport projects. Supplementary to the rapid and extensive changes in their bicycle infrastructure, Bogotá is also working towards shifting other mobility areas to a more sustainable approach3.
In order to improve public and environmental health, the use of electric buses is being strongly promoted. For this purpose, 830 additional electric buses will be added to the already existing fleet of 655 buses during 2022. This increase, to a total of 1,485 operating full electric buses by the end of the year, places Bogotá among the top cities with the largest electric bus fleets outside of China6.
Data for the GIF
Are you interested in creating your own GIF of Bogotá’s cycling infrastructure? We obtained the two datasets from two open data portals for Bogotá, where you can also find many other interesting datasets.
[7] Movilidata Bogotá: Ciclorutas. Período de vigencia: 2015. https://transport.opendatasoft.com (Accessed on 20.05.2022)
[8] Datos Abiertos Bogotá: Cicloruta. Bogotá D.C. ShapeFile(SHP) Versión 09.2021: https://datosabiertos.bogota.gov.co (Accessed on 20.05.2022)
Sources:
[1] SmartCitiesWorld: Bogotá expands bike lanes to curb coronavirus spread. https://www.smartcitiesworld.net (Accessed on 24.05.2022)
[2] Nikitas, A.; Tsigdinos, S.; Karolemeas, C.; Kourmpa, E.; Bakogiannis, E.: Cycling in the Era of COVID-19: Lessons Learnt and Best Practice Policy Recommendations for a More Bike-Centric Future. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4620. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094620
[3] ITDP: Bogotá Wins 2022 Sustainable Transport Award. https://www.itdp.org (Accessed on 23.05.2022)
[4] BogotaGov: Acuerdo No.761 de 2020, Concejo de Bogotá D.C.. https://bogota.gov.co (Accessed on 23.05.2022)
[5] BogotaGov: Acuerdo 804 de 2021 Concejo de Bogotá D.C.. https://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co (Accessed on 23.05.2022)
[6] BogotaGov: By 2023, Bogotá will have the biggest electric fleet in the world after China. https://bogota.gov.co (Accessed on 24.05.2022)
Further recommendations:
Talking Transport Transformation: Cycling Revolution in Bogota with Nicolas Estupinan, S01-E07. https://talkingtransporttransformation (Accessed on 25.05.2022)
TheCityFix: Biking Provides a Critical Lifeline During the Coronavirus Crisis. https://thecityfix.com (Accessed on 25.05.2022)
Bloomberg: Bogotá Is Building its Future Around Bikes. https://www.bloomberg.com (Accessed on 25.05.2022)