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Namibia: City to Revisit Bicycle Concept
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New Era (Windhoek)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Wezi Tjaronda
Windhoek
The City of Windhoek says it is planning to reinitiate a process that will lead to the establishment of bicycle infrastructure.
It said bicycle lanes have not received priority as it should have, but the process would be reinitiated.
With the rising costs of transport and living, it is believed that putting up bicycle lanes on Windhoek's roads would encourage consumers to use bicycles, which are not only cost effective but also environment friendly.
A recent transportation study found that of all trips made within Windhoek during peak time, only 1 percent represents cyclists.
But, Ndangi Katoma, Manager: Corporate Communications and Tourism, said this is expected to increase should proper and safe infrastructure be in place.
"It may even be appropriate first to do a pilot on a trial section between Katutura and Northern Industrial area," he said.
Last year, cyclists petitioned the City to establish infrastructure saying despite being the most affordable means of medium distance urban transport available, there was no provision of cycle lanes, paths, signs, bike parking facilities or driver awareness campaigns within the City of Windhoek.
"This represents a major safety problem for existing cyclists, and is a substantial barrier to the uptake of cycling in the City," reads a petition that was presented to Mayor Mathews Shikongo last year.
Bicycle Empowerment Network of Namibia (BEN) Managing Director, Michael Linke, told New Era recently that many accidents between cyclists and vehicles happened because of lack of respect for cyclists. He said cyclists would be safe on the roads if the roads were partitioned to show that they are also meant for other road users.
"There is need to mark up their territory," he said.
Linke said failure to address the lane issue was a missed opportunity for the City to help its people live more affordably.
"If we don't address this now, we will be feeding into other social problems in the City," he said, adding that this was a human rights issue that deprived people of money that they could otherwise use on education and other basic needs.
Although the 2004 survey showed that only a fraction of road users were cyclists, BEN Namibia, which has distributed around 3 000 bicycles in Windhoek alone, believes that cycling has anecdotally increased despite the risks.
Linke said some international organisations have committed to pump in money for technical support to Windhoek to help with the design of the infrastructure, but the money has not been availed yet because of lack of commitment from the council.
But Katoma said various correspondences in this regard with BEN Namibia have taken place but direct communication or corresponding terms and conditions regarding direct assistance have not been finalised.
The City had put aside funds in the 2007/2008 financial year to commence with this project by appointing a consultant to investigate bicycle lanes, but could not start as initially planned due to other commitments mainly associated with the shortage of staff, said Katoma.
He said the matter was presently being addressed as the City had realised the importance of having bicycle lanes in place as an alternative transport mode, especially considering high transport costs.
The City's Transportation Department has had various meetings with BEN Namibia to provide assistance with the promotion of cycling.
Katoma said establishing costly infrastructure alone would not ensure that cycling, as an alternative transport mode, would succeed.
"Providing proper infrastructure is expensive and the scenario does exist that the same will not be utilised effectively. Accordingly, it should be stated that infrastructure alone would not make cycling a success. Proper promotion must be made and affordable bicycles must be available. This is where stakeholders such as BEN Namibia will come in to assist," Katoma added.
Linke maintained that once infrastructure is available more people would cycle to their workplaces.
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He said some companies were even willing to pay for bicycles for their workers but did not want to risk their lives.
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