Bike Sharing Systems: An urban disruption in the mobility sector (Spanish)
In the second episode of Conversápolis, "The public bike, a disruptive system. Between public and individual" Viviana Tobón —specialist in land transport and civil responsibility— talks with Mariel Figueroa —expert in Public Bicycle Systems— and Juan David Roldán —Coordinator of the Environmental Affairs and Sustainable Development Group at the Ministry of Transport of Colombia— about public bicycle systems, their challenges and benefits and how to deal with a disruptive mode of transport for cities in Colombia.
But, why are we discussing disruptive public bicycle systems in this episode?
As Mariel Figueroa points out in the episode, disruption produces a rupture in the development of a sector's activity to bring about a radical renewal. In the case of public bicycle systems, they have come to break with the traditional idea of public transport systems because they are, in many cities, considered individual public transport systems. However, unlike taxis, for example, bike sharing systems involve active mobility and not motorized modes. In addition to its core in active mobility, users of bike sharing systems are not the passengers, rather the person who wants to “self-transport”. This situation opens an interesting debate: cities must integrate these new forms of transport modalities within the systems that move the citizens, enabling the necessary political, legal and financial scenarios to promote a radical change in the way citizens move around a city.
In this episode, the guests also talk about the innumerable and already known benefits that not only the use of bicycles offers people, but also how the bicycle as a service can contribute to the public mobility of cities. However, enabling the ideal scenarios for the successful deployment of public bicycle systems and for this benefits to become evident, requires actions that, as Juan David Roldan points out, include a change of mentality in road culture and the use of the bicycle as a means of transportation.
If you want to know more, we invite you to listen to this episode, follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, and Google Podcast.