People ride their bicycles along a newly-installed bike lane in Manila. The coronavirus pandemic and shutdown of public transport during lockdown has renewed interest in cycling as a viable and sustainable transport option. Photo Credit: Xinhua
EnvironmentSociety PhilippinesLockdown Leads to This Country’s Largest Bike Lane Development
When citizens had to trade public transport for cycling during the corona lockdown, Philippine authorities seized the opportunity to create a vast and safe network of bike lanes across the country – all in less than a year.
In nine short months, through the Philippines’ largest bike lane construction program in history, some 500 kilometers’ worth of bicycle rails were created across Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
The project quickly came to life thanks to the combined effort from the World Bank Philippines Transport Team, the Global Road Safety Facility, Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety, and the Australian government. And to make sure every aspect of road safety was taken into account upon designing, adapting, and building the infrastructure, the community was invited to participate, including disabled people, women, and elders.
