Congratulations cyclists! Bicycle rides increase incredibly during this year, as detailed by the Ministry of Mobility (Semovi) on the recent “Conteo Ciclista 2024” (cycling count).
The document is a detailed report that compares the daily journeys performed in 2024 compared to 2018 in Mexico City (CDMX). The results were simply shocking.
According to Semovi, in CDMX, cycling mobility jumped from 267,000 daily bike trips during 2018 to 456,982 per day in 2024. An increase of slightly less than double, proving the importance and the use of this sustainable transport.
Causes that increased the bicycle trips
Semovi has clear that to greater safety and road options, better the trips performed in alternative transports would be.
On the case of the bicycle, the key point was a greater construction of cycling infrastructure among the different bike ways and bike parking.
The ministry emphasized the modification of more than 211 miles of cycle paths and the construction of 6 bike parking. Similarly, stressed the greater use of programs as bike rental system by Ecobici, the bici escuelas (bike schools) and the Sunday ride Muévete en Bici.
How the study was performed?
The study performed by Semovi considered the people that at least performed one bike trip on business days of May.
The count was performed in 120 specific points that registered the high number of cyclists. These included the bike ways of Camarones, Guelatao, Insurgentes, Eduardo Molina, Revolución y Patriotismo, as the shared path of Reforma and the shared bus bike lanes of Eje 7 Sur and Eje 3 Sur.
Greater safety, more bike trips
The exponential growth of bike trips isn’t weird with the increase of bike ways and programs.
Studies indicated that the main reason of why people have a bike and don’t use it, is due the fear of being run over on streets. This is independently of their bike use as a recreational way, or on the other hand, as a main mean of transport.
Bike ways, lanes designed for the exclusive use of cyclists and other non-motorized transports. The difference of this with bike paths are the separation of cars through physical barriers.
The best barriers for these purposes are confibicis and lane separators. These devices don’t allow the entry of cars to the path, providing greater safety to cyclist. This fosters more people to transport on bike through safer routes.
Urgent need for decentralization
Bike ways are a great progress on sustainable transport, these need to be throughout capital city. For today, most of them are on city calls, central and popular neighborhoods of the capital.
Most part of CDMX doesn’t has a cycling infrastructure, for that, is necessary to implement it on all city halls. Likewise, must exist an interconnection among them and other means of transport.
The incredible jump of more than one decade
The comparison of the first cycling count of 2012 with the one of 2024 is overwhelming. In terms of massive bike parking, the construction of the 1st was in 2014 in Pantitlán with an average of 68 uses to 873 uses in 2024 in the 9 of them.
For Ecobici, this started to work in 2010, that year registered 85 stations and 1,114 bikes and 30,000 daily bike trips for 2010. In 2024 increased to 687 stations with 300 bikes, and the record of 82,595 bike trips in one day.
In respect of Sunday ride Muévete en Bici of 2016 to 2024 have participated 14 million 500 thousand cyclists, representing a 51% of their participants since the first implementation in 2007.
To read the detailed report, you can do it here.
