Public Bicycle System would enable 14,000 daily trips in Lima

The development of a Public Bicycle System (SPB, for its acronym in Spanish) in Lima would promote, in a first stage, close to 14 thousand daily bicycle trips, and would reach about 9,500 potential users, according to the report Structuring of a Public Bicycle Inter-District System in the city of Lima, carried out by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, and the Fundación Ciudad Humana (Human City Foundation), which was presented today jointly with the district municipalities of Miraflores, San Isidro, and San Borja.

The project, which intends to have 260 stations and 10,500 bicycles in the three mentioned districts, would contribute to promote the massive use of alternative means to mobilize, facilitate integration with other means of transportation, reduce the emission of contaminants, and improve urban mobility and public health in Lima.

The SPB report includes the definition of the basic components that make it up, planning of the potential demand by users, as well as an estimate of costs and the most adequate technology for its implementation.  

According to the publication, the entry into operations of this system would imply an investment of close to USD 10,000, and it is estimated that with the participation of the private sector. about USD 5,000 annually could be obtained from publicity, and about USD 2,000 from sponsors.

The three mentioned districts conglomerate more than 250 thousand inhabitants, but because they are financial and commercial centers of the capital, they endure high levels of vehicular traffic as they receive a significant floating population on a daily basis (approximately 1,410,000) who go there for work, business, studies, and tourism. 

The document is the result of one year of work at CAF, the Fundación Ciudad Humana, and the technical teams of the three districts, and was built on the lessons of the implementation of public bicycle systems in cities such as  Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Montreal, New York, Paris, Santiago de Chile and Rio de Janeiro, among others.

The presentation of the document included the participation of Soraya Azán, Senior Specialist in mobility and transportation at CAF, Jorge Muñoz, Mayor of Miraflores, Manuel Velarde, Mayor of San Isidro, and Dante Estremadoyro, Alderman of the Municipality of San Borja.