Bike riding in Cairo
Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:44 am
A good article in G2 today, comparing cycling in various world cities. Seems Cairo comes a close second to Delhi as a bad place to be on a bike!
Tell a local that you cycle in Cairo, and more often than not you will be met with a wide-eyed stare. Driving a car is dangerous and frustrating enough, with 42 annual road deaths per 100,000 Egyptians, according to the World Health Organisation. Britain has just 2.75.
Cairo's roads are chaotic, with cars paying little attention to road markings, and gridlocked streets common by mid-afternoon. Lane discipline is not a recognised concept, drivers often reverse down multi-lane highways, and cars will not stop for pedestrians seeking to cross a road until they step out into the speeding traffic.
In this environment, there is little concept of cycling as a means of getting across the city. Needless to say, there are no cycle lanes. Many deliverymen do use bikes to pedal around their neighbourhoods – perhaps Cairo's most fearless road-users are the cycling bakers who careen through traffic jams balancing vast trays of bread on their heads. But very few commuters cycle, put off by the perceived danger and the lack of infrastructure. For some professionals, bikes are associated with the working class, and so have a social stigma – while some female cyclists report harassment from passersby.
But the city's few energetic bike advocates say that cyclists are slowly on the rise. When the Cairo Cycling Club was founded five years ago, it had just four members. Now it organises weekly recreational group rides through quieter districts that have sometimes attracted hundreds of cyclists. In two provincial cities near Cairo, the authorities are planning to encourage more cycling along some main roads.
There are no exact figures, either for the number of Cairene cyclists or the number of annual cycling-related fatalities. But Ahmed el-Dorghamy, one of Cairo's most vocal cycling proponents, says there are more than 20,000 users of Egyptian online cycling groups.
"The idea we want to get across is that it's not just a sporting activity," he told the BBC last year. "It can also be a means of transport in some areas of Cairo."
Full article at http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... r-cyclists
Tell a local that you cycle in Cairo, and more often than not you will be met with a wide-eyed stare. Driving a car is dangerous and frustrating enough, with 42 annual road deaths per 100,000 Egyptians, according to the World Health Organisation. Britain has just 2.75.
Cairo's roads are chaotic, with cars paying little attention to road markings, and gridlocked streets common by mid-afternoon. Lane discipline is not a recognised concept, drivers often reverse down multi-lane highways, and cars will not stop for pedestrians seeking to cross a road until they step out into the speeding traffic.
In this environment, there is little concept of cycling as a means of getting across the city. Needless to say, there are no cycle lanes. Many deliverymen do use bikes to pedal around their neighbourhoods – perhaps Cairo's most fearless road-users are the cycling bakers who careen through traffic jams balancing vast trays of bread on their heads. But very few commuters cycle, put off by the perceived danger and the lack of infrastructure. For some professionals, bikes are associated with the working class, and so have a social stigma – while some female cyclists report harassment from passersby.
But the city's few energetic bike advocates say that cyclists are slowly on the rise. When the Cairo Cycling Club was founded five years ago, it had just four members. Now it organises weekly recreational group rides through quieter districts that have sometimes attracted hundreds of cyclists. In two provincial cities near Cairo, the authorities are planning to encourage more cycling along some main roads.
There are no exact figures, either for the number of Cairene cyclists or the number of annual cycling-related fatalities. But Ahmed el-Dorghamy, one of Cairo's most vocal cycling proponents, says there are more than 20,000 users of Egyptian online cycling groups.
"The idea we want to get across is that it's not just a sporting activity," he told the BBC last year. "It can also be a means of transport in some areas of Cairo."
Full article at http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... r-cyclists
