Mobility, compromised by insecurity in Bogotá

11/13/2020 Colombia



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Claudia López is at a crossroads, since it increased the bicycle lanes throughout the city, but the perception is that not used to a reasonable capacity and lanes removed to the already congested streets, which has generated (even more) vehicular chaos and the consequent complaints of drivers, who come to claim, with good reason, that the vehicles pay rolling taxes, insurance, Soat and a surcharge on gasoline, so that they cannot be taken out to the street because of the traffic jams.

And on the other side are the cyclists, that the runners do not use ‘full’ due to the rampant insecurity that reigns in the city and that goes beyond perception, in addition to the fact that it is no longer about a cyclist being robbed of the bicycle, but now thugs shoot to kill and then take their loot, sometimes without even caring that the victim is willing to ‘collaborate’ in allowing himself to be robbed, as happened to a young man who was knocked off his bicycle with a machete, on 26th street with Boyacá Avenue this week.

The victim received deep machete cuts on his body, even though he never tried to oppose the theft. This is the site in Bogotá where this event occurred, of the many that happen daily in the city:

This video with a report from Citytv shows the place where the cyclist was docked, which also generates another problem, and that is that some bike users do not use the bike paths for fear of being robbed when passing through critical points, such as this tunnel in Eldorado avenue:

Figures of bicycle thefts in Bogotá

The following trill from a Twitter user denounces the insecurity in the city’s bicycle paths that, according to figures revealed by El Tiempo, this year criminals have stolen almost 7,000 bicycles in Bogotá, about 1,500 cases more than in the same period of 2019, despite the fact that for months the cyclists hardly circulated through the city due to the prolonged quarantine, of more than 3 months:

Cases like the previous ones cloud the intention of this and previous capital administrations to encourage the use of bicycles, which are reflected in the following figures, provided by Movilidad Bogotá:

Bogotá bike paths: the good, despite the insecurity

  • Latin American city with the most bicycle trips per day.
  • City with the most extensive network of bike paths in Latin America, 532 km.
  • The bicycle lane became the main export product of Bogotá, and has been replicated in dozens of cities on all continents.
  • More than 1.5 million people go out on the bike path on Sundays and holidays.
  • Bogotá has positioned itself internationally as a destination for amateur cyclists.
  • More and more foreigners get to know the capital through the Bicitravesías that promote tourism in Bogotá.
  • First city in a bicycle registration system with more than 19,000 users and more than 9,700 bicycles.
  • For 2019, the trip planner for cyclists is launched, which allows defining the route according to the degree of expertise.
  • More than 56 road cycling, mountain biking, and backcountry routes around the city (which have also been marred by massive robberies).
  • Cyclists who adopted the bicycle help reduce pollution. According to studies, they mitigate the effects of climate change by avoiding the emission of more than 300,000 tons of CO2 per year.

Also see where more bicycles are stolen in Bogotá.

Figures of insecurity in Bogotá, as of October 2020

Where are the temporary bike paths in Bogotá?

Since last March 17, the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá decided to enable 117 kilometers of additional roads dedicated to bicycles, as revealed by Mobility Bogotá, with the aim of “decongesting public transport in the city”, an objective that was clearly not achieved. nor to decongest the articulated Transmilenio and the SITP, but the roads for motorcycles and private and cargo vehicles, on roads such as Calle 13, Avenida Boyacá and Avenida Ciudad de Cali, not to mention the other roads of the city .

The following tweet from Movilidad Bogotá says that the use of bike paths went from 8% to 35%, but forgot to mention the impressive traffic jam that the video shows:

These are some routes that were considered temporary, and dedicated to bicycles that were previously for motor vehicles, and that remained permanent:

Av. Boyacá:

    • Av. Boyacá between Calle 170 and 134, by the bike path on the eastern and western side. Extension 8.4 Km
    • Av. Boyacá between Calle 134 and 127B, along the western side bike path. Extension 1.85 km

  • Av. Boyacá between Calle 127B and Calle 86 A, by the bike path on the eastern side. Extension 2,25 Km
  • Av. Boyacá between Calle 86 A and Carrera 24, along the eastern expressway. Extension 16.4 Km
  • Av. Boyacá between Carrera 24 and Diagonal 68ª sur, by segregated lane north (slow) of the north causeway. Extension 6.19 Km

Carrera 9 with Calle 106:

  • Carrera 9 between Calle 147 and 106, along the entire western road. Extension 4.58 km
  • Calle 106 between Carrera 9 and 7, along the entire north road. Extension 787 meters

116 Street – Córdoba Av.

  • 116th Street between Carrera 7 and Av. Boyacá, along the entire north road. Extension 5.61 Km
  • Av. Córdoba between Calle 127 and 116, along the entire western road. Extension 899 meters

Carrera 15 – Calle 72

    • Carrera 15 between Calle 116 and Calle 100 along the eastern segregated lane of the western road.
    • Carrera 15 between Calle 100 and 72, along a western segregated lane with the only service road.

  • The roundabout of Carrera 15 with Calle 100 will be enabled on the eastern and western side.
  • Total Extension 4.7 Km
  • Calle 72 between Carrera 15 and Carrera 7, by segregated lane south of the north causeway. Extension 843 meters

Race 7

    • Carrera 7 between Av. Primera de Mayo and Calle 7 by western segregated lane of the single service road. Extension 2.93 Km
    • Calle 7 between Carrera 7 and Carrera 6; Carrera 6 between Calle 7 and Calle 10; Calle 10 between Carrera 6 and Carrera 7 (Presidential guard detour) Complete road Extension 0.32 Km

  • Carrera 7 between Calle 10 and 24, complete pedestrianized road. Extension 1.60 Km
  • Carrera 7 between Calle 24 and 27, western segregated lane of the single service road. Extension 428 meters
  • Carrera 7 between Calle 27 and 33, by bike lane on the western side of Carrera 7. Length: 406 meters
  • Carrera 7 between Calle 33 and 102 eastern segregated lane of the western road. Extension 7.61 Km
  • Carrera 7 between Calle 102 and 106, complete eastern rapid road. Extension 450 meters

Race 50

  • Carrera 50 between Calle 39 A Sur and Calle 9 (Av. Américas), complete western road. Extension 4.33 kilometers

26th Street

      • Calle 26 between Carrera 7 and Carrera 50, along the entire southern road. Extension 4.64 Km

  • Calle 26 between Carrera 50 and Monumento de Reyes by the bike path of the central separator. Extension 6.24 Km

Motorists complain about traffic jams in Bogotá

It is well known that, since the beginning of the 1970s, the capital’s vehicle fleet has always been greater than the capacity of the roads, and that has an explanation, since since the mid-2000s in Bogotá almost half of the vehicles that are sold in the country stay in the capital.

Thus, in 2019, more than 260,000 vehicles were sold in the country, according to the newspaper La República, of which at least 100,000 new ones were added to the streets of the city and, if it is considered that an average vehicle occupies an area between 8 and 10 square meters, one can calculate what 100,000 more cars occupy each year.

Therefore, plus the main road lanes that have been dedicated to bicycles, motorists are desperate and they have manifested it through social networks, as evidenced by the following trills.

This motorist complains that it lasted 4 hours in a traffic congestion:

And this user reports that it took him 20 minutes to travel 4 blocks in an Uber vehicle:



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