Sistema Público de Bicicletas interconectará tres distritos de Lima

CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, subscribed a technical cooperation agreement with the municipalities of Miraflores, San Borja and San Isidro, to develop the Structure of a Public Bicycle System to promote its intermodal and interdistrict use, aimed at contributing to the development of non-motorized transportation and reduce the emission of contaminants in the city of Lima.  

The project includes the design and technical structuring of the Public Bicycle System (SPB, for its acronym in Spanish), which will start with the definition of the basic components that make it up, an initial estimate of the potential user demand, infrastructure, urban equipment, operation, cost estimates, and the most adequate technology for its implementation.  

The document was signed by Eleonora Silva, CAF's Director Representative in Peru, and Jorge Muñoz, Marco Álvarez, and Manuel Velarde, mayors of the municipalities of Miraflores, San Borja and San Isidro, districts that conglomerate more than 250 thousand inhabitants, and as they are financial and commercial centers, they have high vehicular traffic levels due to the large number of daily floating population (approximately 1,410,000) for work, business, study, or tourism.   

Practical Guideline

The mentioned cooperation agreement was signed in the framework of the presentation of the "Practical Guideline for the Implementation of Public Bicycle Systems for Latin America", developed by Ciudad Humana Foundation with the support of CAF and the French Development Agency. 

The referred guideline is the result of experiences, at an international level, in the implementation of public bicycle systems, and it shows which have been the determinant factors for their success in cities such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Montreal, New York, Paris, Santiago-Chile, and Rio de Janeiro, among others.

The document states that beyond financing the implementation of a SPB, the challenge for the municipalities is to achieve the financial, operational, and social  sustainability of the system. It also highlights that the high operational costs do not depend exclusively on the quality of the equipment, but also on the efficiency of the service, which must meet the needs of users who make a large number of trips, by means of an adequate balance between stations, in order to guarantee the availability of bicycles and parking spaces.

The practical guideline is aimed at authorities, investors, and non-governmental organizations in Latin America, who wish to lead in the implementation of public bicycle systems (SPB) as one of their strategies to promote the mass use of alternative modes of transportation to contribute to the improvement of the city, mobility, the environment, and public health.