Abstract After many years without any substantial improvement in bicycle infrastructure in Curitiba, a 4-km Leisure Bicycle Lane was implemented in the central area of the city in 2011. The project was one of several that City Hall hurriedly implemented following pressure from bike activists. On the Sunday the project was launched, more than three thousand cyclists are estimated to have used the bicycle lane; of these, 300 cycled alongside the lane, outside it, against it. They made the front pages of newspapers, disrupted the sociotechnical framework of bicycle policy in the city and put bicycles on the political agenda of the municipal elections. This paper discusses why, in a city renowned worldwide for its public transportation system and for having more than a 100km of bicycle lanes, a bicycle project failed after being sabotaged by cyclists and was definitively abandoned in February 2013. Based on interviews with key actors, including public officials, journalists, and bicycle activists, this paper concludes that the failed bicycle lane unveils the profound and urgent social and political dimensions embedded in what had been presented by municipal authorities as a neutral technical solution.

    Highlights In 2011, a 4-km leisure bicycle lane was implemented in Curitiba, Brazil. Curitiba has a good transit system and more than 100km of bicycle lanes. Cyclists cycled against the bicycle lane. Technical and political controversy shows a shift on how bikes is seen in town.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    ‘No bicycle lanes!’ Shouted the cyclists. A controversial bicycle project in Curitiba, Brazil


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Transport Policy ; 32 ; 180-185


    Publication date :

    2014-01-01


    Size :

    6 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





    Reasons for cyclists denying new-built bicycle lanes

    Duc-Nghiem, Nguyen / Viet-Phuong, Nguyen / Kubota, Hisashi | Springer Verlag | 2019


    Study of Bicycle Lanes Versus Wide Curb Lanes

    Hunter, William / Stewart, J. / Stutts, Jane | Transportation Research Record | 1999


    Study of Bicycle Lanes Versus Wide Curb Lanes

    Hunter, William W. | Online Contents | 1999


    Study of Bicycle Lanes Versus Wide Curb Lanes

    Hunter, W. W. / Stewart, J. R. / Stutts, J. C. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999