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Paint your own cycle lane

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Direct action is not really in the make up of us Brits. The closest we get is some form of critical mass. In other countries, it is a lot different. In Mexico a group of cyclists have taken to painting a “guerrilla” cycle lane along a busy stretch of road in the centre of Mexico City.

The cyclists took the action after authorities in Mexico City stalled on plans to build 300km of cycle lanes by the end of 2012.

“There is a national campaign calling for legislators to allocate at least 5% of the transport budget to non-motorized infrastructure, so we painted a bike lane in front of congress to help promote it,” Jimena Veloz, a member of the Make Your City Collective, the group behind the guerrilla cycle lane tactics, told CNN.

The unauthorized cycle lane passes Mexico City’s Congressional Hall, where discussions concerning the future of Mexico City’s transport infrastructure are currently taking place. The lane has been earmarked as a cycle lane by the city council but the council has yet to put signage up to publicise the move yet.

The Wikilane

The cycle lane, which the Make Your City Collective has called Wikilane, took eight hours to paint. It was called Wikilane, because it was made through voluntary participation and is open to everyone as the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is.

Up to 80 people helped paint the 5km cycle lane after social media was used to raise funds and volunteers for the project.

Investment

The current Mexico City’s government pledged to build 300km of lanes by 2012 when they came into power in 2006 So far 6.8km of new cycle lanes have been built. There is currently 22.2km of cycle lanes in Mexico City.

Much of Mexico City’s investment into cycling has been through the cycle hire system ECOBICI with bike lanes taking less priority. Authorities have claimed that 20km of new bikes lanes will be put in place in the future. However, the Make Your City Collective beleive that investment has been allocated to car infrastructure rather cycling or other forms of transport.

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See also

Legal action being considered following pothole death crash

Reducing vehicle speeds will increase cycle safety

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