Govt should promote bicycles to preserve environment

Sustainable transport is a hot topic under discussion globally today. It has become even more crucial at this time when climate change has also become a matter of great concern.

Bicycle transport is fuel efficient, space-saving and offers a healthy living alternative. Like walking, cycling is referred to as green mode of transport. Traditional transport planning aims to improve mobility, especially by vehicles, but it fails to consider wider impacts.

According to the Intergovernmental report on Climate Change (2007), greenhouse gas emissions from transport are increasing at a faster rate than any other energy using sector. Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution. But the real purpose of transport is to commute people to work, schools as well as transport goods and services. There are proven techniques to improve transportation while simultaneously reducing environmental and social impacts, boosting economic and managing traffic congestion. Using a bicycle is one such technique.

If Uganda should be counted among the countries that are trying address the effects of global warming, the government should promote the use of bicycles as environmentally-friendly transport. Secondly, the constant traffic jam on our roads would be reduced if we adopted the use of bicycles instead of cars. And if traffic jams are reduced, motor vehicle emissions would also reduce.

The bicycle has several other advantages. For instance, it is very space-efficient. That is why in Kampala, cyclists find a lot of room for manoeuvre. And with the parking problems, especially in the city, this would be the most appropriate and sustainable solution.

It is also cheap to acquire and maintain a bicycle. If we are to cut down our travel costs, the use of bicycles is the way to go. When we reduce transport cost, our savings and investments as well as our economic progress would increase. With our inadequate transport system, a bicycle would be our saviour. Besides, bicycles offer riders physical exercise which is good for their health.

But for people to use bicycles, it should be made convenient and enjoyable. An all-inclusive transport policy catering for bicycle cycling should be designed. The policy should provide transport infrastructural planning - create bicycle lanes and parking slots. Otherwise to urge people to ride on our roads today would endanger their lives because there are no bicycle facilities in place.

The government should also engage the public in bicycle use awareness campaigns. This would change the attitude that cycling is only for the poor.

For instance, MP Mbagadhi Fred Nkayi, (Kagoma Constituency) in his article in the Sunday Monitor of December 13, 2009 said the bicycle was a sustainable transportation choice for poor in Uganda. Whereas he correctly advocates that bicycles should be availed to the poor, their promotion for sustainability should ideally have nothing to do with ones’s social standing. In the Netherlands and Denmark, for instance, where cycling is regarded as a success, even the rich ride bicycles. Through sensitisation, the gender-based view that cycling is only a male thing can’t be sustained.

Finally, if the government must think globally and act locally, then it should design an all-inclusive transport policy that caters for the bicycle as well.

This way, Uganda would not only contribute towards addressing climate change and global warming effects, but also be able to tap the untapped social and economic benefits of the bicycle.

Ms Ngabirano is a regional and urban and planner
amanda.ngabirano@gmail.com