Colombia’s car-free movement
Jaime Ortiz Marino organized the first Ciclovia in 1974. Fifty years ago, this 28-year-old Colombian with a bushy beard, flares and vintage Raleigh bicycle led a revolution on the streets of Bogota. As an architect Jaime Ortiz Marino got permission to shut down a section of roads and 5,000 two-wheeler radicals pedaled down the middle of the street. The world’s first Open Streets event quickly grew into a weekly fixture named “Ciclovia” ( bicycle life) that has spawned dozens of imitations in cities worldwide. “This is the biggest outdoor civics classroom in the world!” Jaime, now 78, told AFP, surveying his creation with satisfaction on a recent Sunday.An estimated 1.7 million Bogotanos walk, cycle, jog, rollerblade, scoot, ride unicycles, push buggies through 79 miles of car-free streets each Sunday. The program’s global renown is a huge source of pride in Bogota, helping transform a city blighted by guerrilla and paramilitary violence in the 1980s and 1990s into a Latin American capital of cool. “Ciclovia is part of Bogota’s soul,” Camilo Ramirez, a migration specialist, told AFP as he and his wife Anny Garcia jogged down the street behind their bike-riding children, aged 5 and 12. “This is what keeps me alive!” said Jhon Lozano, a spry 89-year-old cycling fanatic, who leaves home at 4:30 am each Sunday to meet up with friends along the route. On average, 1.5 million Bogotanos use the Ciclovía every Sunday.
Cycling Sundays offer a welcome respite from the gridlock and smog, as a tsunami of fitness enthusiasts pour through the city, from the wealthy north to the poorer south. The mood is festive, with stalls dotted along the route offering juices, arepas (corn cakes) and other snacks. The couple grew up cycling and skating on Ciclovia, having the freedom of the city once a week has become a Bogota birthright. “If we don’t go out for some reason, for instance because it’s raining, the children miss it,” Garcia said.
The city now has nearly 360 miles of dedicated cycle lines. Ciclovia has also helped create employment for thousands of people, including the bicycle mechanics stationed at regular intervals along the route to pump tires and fix punctures. “Here I have earned what I need to pay for my daughter’s education, my own well-being and my home,” 56-year-old bike mechanic Eladio Gustavo Atis Bernal said. Ciclovia’s biggest legacy however has been its ability to transcend Colombia’s deep political and social divisions. Throughout decades of violence, it never came under attack. The program, which is poised for further expansion has become one of the city’s biggest exports, spawning spinoffs in Chile, Mexico City and Sao Paulo, among others. But no major US city or European capital has managed to shut out cars each week. “One thing that allows people to feel Bogotano is the Ciclovía because no matter how rich you are, and whether you are from the south or the north, the west or the east, you can go down any road and you will not be excluded.”
Wheely fun Sundays
I called the bicycle factory and asked to speak to whoever was in charge of wheels. The person who answered said they weren’t there, so I asked, “Okay, who are you?” She responded…
“I’m his spokes person.”
Q: Do you know what is the hardest part of learning to ride a bike?
A: The pavement.
What’s the difference between a poorly dressed man on a tricycle and a well-dressed man on a bicycle? …Attire.
What do you call two bicycles that are stuck together?
Conjoined Schwinns.
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January 3rd Birthdays
1975 – Danica McKellar, 1993 – Candelaria Molfese, 1984 – Katie McGrath, 1950 – Victoria Principal
1909 – Victor Borge, 1981 – Eli Manning, 1892 – JRR Tolkein, 1955 – Mel Gibson