Bicycle Partnership Program

Bringing community and city planners together in Rio de Janeiro (Project support I-CE to Transporte Ativo July ‘09 – June ‘10)

Rio is the second largest city in Brazil counting 6 million inhabitants. This population owns a fleet of approximately 4 million bicycles. The number of kilometres covered by bicycle each year increases gradually. The in 2003 founded organisation Transporte Ativo (TA), with the objective to make the city more liveable and bicycle-friendly, is in the process of strengthening the position of the bike considerably. With I-CE's assistance, Transporte Ativo is carrying out a number of activities to promote a cycling friendly Rio.

Cycling in Rio is growing faster and faster. The city starts planning for bikes in the early 90’s and is the Brazilian cycling capital. Today we have 140 km of bike paths and more than 200 km planned. Recently the mayor said that the city will double the infrastructure before 2012.  The city planners are investing in cycling infrastructure, but need input from the users on their requirements regarding safe and comfortable cycling infrastructure. Transporte Ativo is coordinating dialogue between a number of communities in Rio de Janeiro and the city planners. By providing information about possibilities for cyclists and information about what is happening in other cities around the world, Transporte Ativo helps the community to shape their needs regarding cycling infra. Transporte Ativo additionally generates data on the number of cyclists, how bicycles are using the road and where and how bicycles are parked. Transporte Ativo is playing an interfacing role between the community and the city planners in ensuring that more safe places to ride and park are created for bicycle users. Also, Transport Ativo is bringing together different stakeholders (including companies, user groups, municipality, etc) in a strategic platform for sustainable strategic cooperation regarding NMT, in the build-up to the WC2014 and Olympics 2016 in Brazil.

Furthermore,  Transporte Ativo is mobilising cyclists and raising interest in the general public on cycling. For instance by organising an intermodal challenge in which participants cover a distance of sixteen kilometres by different modes: bike, bus, metro, taxi, motorbike or on skates. Transporte Ativo compares the time it takes, the pollution, energy used and cost to see which mode is the best. Another activity is the "Vaga Viva" whereby for one day a car parking space is changed into open air sitting rooms with sofas, chairs, plants and tables where people can rest a moment before walking or biking on. Specific actions directed at school children and general public in order to stimulate bicycle use on the way to school, work or casual travels in daily  transport are carried out by TA, whilst training courses and workshops are organised for secondary school youngsters, companies employees  as well as traffic training courses for health-care professionals moving by bike.