- The use of cars and public transport has decreased during confinement, and the commitment to cycling has increased in the population to move from one place to another. Car spaces have become bike lanes and bicycle rental has been offered free of charge in many cities. There are many voices who say that we must seize the opportunity, maintaining and strengthening these measures in the medium and long term so that the bicycle is the main route of transport rather than taking the car again.
That is the concern of many: to reduce the use of public transport during decontainment, because it fears that people will get infected, and that car removal will be strengthened – and that one or two people will travel in the car, as a non-contagion measure. In this sense, they have asked the authorities to move ahead with sustainable mobility movements to rethink urbanism and make more accessible the streets in which pedestrians and bicycles predominate.
The request for the authorities is clear: that not only be the measures for this moment, but also the starting point for transforming the mobility scheme and prioritizing bicycles and pedestrians
In order to move from one district to another in the city or to the surrounding villages, the bicycle is a suitable means of transport from multiple perspectives: it encourages active mobility, benefits the environment and makes the cyclist ride isolated at times when distances should be maintained. That the city is steep or long distance? The electric bike can be a good option.
As a result of the coronavirus, many municipalities are remodeling their cities, making more bike lanes, opening sidewalks, removing lanes for cars… The request for the authorities is clear: that it is not only the measures for this moment, but the starting point to transform the mobility scheme and prioritize bicycles and pedestrians.
Tax incentives for the person who goes to work by bicycle
The associations of urban cyclists of the Basque Country, Biziz Bizi, Kalapie, Bizikleteroak, Entre rueda and Brakes, point out that although the bicycle is a cheap, efficient, safe and ecological vehicle, in general it is not considered an alternative means of transport because "people do not dare to ride bicycles on the road, but if they drive safe lanes, this option would attract more users".
These associations have called on the authorities to take concrete steps to end male violence. Among other things, reduce the maximum speed in the city centre to 30 kilometres per hour, expand the spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, set urban and inter-urban cycling routes, turn bi-directional bike lanes into one-way bikes – in cases that have lanes on both sides of the street – change the traffic lights so that cyclists and pedestrians have priority, set up or maintain the bicycle service public, increase the safe parking areas for bicycles