Today we gave away t-shirts for new BiciZen users who made new contributions to the crowdsourcing platform in an event organized as part of the Festa Major de l’Eixample Esquerra. It is always fun to get out there and talk to potential new users. Speaking with cyclists about their problems riding their bicycle in the city gives you an appreciation for how important it is to make our cities more bikeable. A common issue that came up today was the urgent need for safe bicycle parking in homes, offices and schools. Bike theft was another issue that comes up repeatedly.
We took advantage of the event to tell people about our current campaign “Pedala i Reporta“, which aims at documenting imprefections in the cycling network. This crowdsourcing campaing is being led by BACC and they are using the BiciZen platform to facilitate data collection among multiple users.
At noon, about 150 of us when on a group bike ride, or bicicletada, through the Eixample. With the kids up at front and fun music blasting, it was like a weekend Bike Bus.
It was also wonderful to meet up with many of the cycling activists, including those from BACC who helped organize the event. I deeply admire this group of volunteers and activists.
Finally, some bad news was on our mind today. The looming threat of the removal of the Via Augusta bike lane is of serious concern, as informal conversations reveal that this threat is real. Rolling back new cycling infrastructure would set a terrible precedent for this new Mayoral term. Plans are being made for a demonstration on October 21st and we hope that there is a big turn out to send a strong message to the new Mayor and council.
