O parecer da Dutch Cycling Embassy retrata uma cidade desenhada em favor do automóvel e que remete para plano secundário os peões e ciclistas.

Como relatámos num post anterior neste blogue, Marjolein de Lange e Jeroen Buis, dois peritos em assuntos de mobilidade urbana da Dutch Cycling Embassy, estiveram em Lisboa na workshop “Think Bike”, uma das actividades realizadas no âmbito da Semana Europeia da Mobilidade.

Da visita a Lisboa resultou um parecer sobre a situação de tráfego em Lisboa, escrito pelos dois peritos holandeses. A pedido da MUBi, esse parecer foi recentemente publicado na página da Dutch Cycling Embassy (como parte do relatório completo da workshop que já tínhamos mencionado num post anterior).

O retrato que Marjolein de Lange e Jeroen Buis fazem da capital é negro e não surpreende quem vive e trabalha em Lisboa: a cidade está desenhada em favor do automóvel e remete para plano secundário os peões e ciclistas. Na opinião dos peritos da Dutch Cycling Embassy, há muito a mudar até que a cidade se torne uma verdadeira cidade amiga das pessoas e das bicicletas:

  • “O desenho das ruas dá prioridade à circulação livre e rápida dos automóveis, [..] sacrificando peões, ciclistas e a segurança das ruas”
  • “Até as ruas de menor tráfego automóvel têm 2 vias para automóveis em cada sentido, deixando muito pouco espaço para passeios e para ciclistas”
  • “A prevenção de estacionamento ilegal é pouca ou nenhuma”

Ao mesmo tempo, é claro para Marjolein de Lange e Jeroen Buis que os cidadãos lisboetas cada vez mais desejam ter melhores condições para pedalarem e que a cidade tem potencial para um dia vir a ser uma cidade amiga da bicicleta:

  • “Lisboa tem um bom clima para o uso da bicicleta, [..] grande parte da cidade é relativamente plana”
  • “É claro que as pessoas em Lisboa querem usar a bicicleta, e que há potencial para tal”

De seguida, transcrevemos na íntegra o parecer escrito por Marjolein de Lange e Jeroen Buis.

Este parecer é sobre Lisboa mas infelizmente aplicar-se-ia a muitas outras cidades grandes/médias de Portugal.

Some observations about the traffic situation in Lisbon: challenges and opportunities

In rush hour there is a lot of motorized traffic and serious congestion in the streets of Lisbon.
Lisbon has wide roads with a lot of space for car-traffic. The road design gives priority for a free and fast flow of car-traffic: not only are the roads at times extremely wide, also the radii at junctions can be very wide. All this is at the expense of pedestrians, cyclists and road safety. Also, in less busy streets car-traffic has two lanes available leaving very little space for sidewalks and/or cyclists.
Furthermore, parking takes up a lot of space, partly so because there is little or no prevention of illegal parking. A serious problem is the application of parking at an angle (rather than parallel) even in wide roads with a flow function. This not only disturbs the flow of traffic, but also leads to very dangerous situations when cars exit or enter the parking spaces.
The policy is to concentrate car traffic on main routes, but on parallel streets there is a lot of space for cars as well, often 2×2 lanes for car traffic. In rush hour the latter are mostly fully used.
Clearly promotion of alternative modes of transport such as the bicycle can help to reduce car-use, hence lesscongestion, parking problems, air pollution and noise pollution.
Lisbon has a good climate for cycling, and although there are some very steep roads large parts of the city are relatively flat. There are some bicycle tracks, like the bicycle track in av. Duque d’Avila, but these often lack continuity.
In everyday traffic cyclists are a rare phenomenon, and the ones that do cycle are mostly very experienced cyclists. On Sunday, however, on the cycle track at Av. Duque d’Avila there were more cyclists, among them even children. Hence it is clear that people in Lisbon do want to cycle, and that there is potential.
An increase of cycle use is to be expected due to several trends: higher prices of fuel and public transport, a worsening economic situation and more congestion. However without better facilities for cyclists, such as lower car speed and car volumes in the quieter streets, separate cycle tracks in busy roads and safer junctions, growing levels of cycling may result in more road accidents with cyclists.

For the future

More cycling, and less car-use, can help to make Lisbon a nicer and safer city, which moreover is better accessible as well.
But in order to make cycling in Lisbon an option for everybody, street design is necessary that meets the needs of all cyclists.
The workshop served to give an impression of what bicycle inclusive road design can mean for some streets in Lisbon. But in order to improve the situation all over the city, a long term and persisting policy is needed. A network for cyclists that can be developed and implemented step by step is essential to such a policy. When bicycle inclusive road design is realized every time a street of the network is renovated, cycling will become more and more a serious option for all in Lisbon.
This ThinkBike workshop focused on some very large and busy streets. With the current number of cars in such streets it is difficult to make room for bicycle facilities. However, smaller streets can offer good opportunities for cyclists as well, if they are well designed and well connected.
A follow-up of the workshop could involve a design of an integrated network for cyclists in Lisbon, and the policy implications that come with it. A bicycle friendly design for smaller streets could also be a good case for further work on bicycling in Lisbon.

3 Responses to Lisboa tem potencial para uso da bicicleta, mas está longe de ser amiga dos peões e ciclistas, conclui a Dutch Cycling Embassy

  1. Humberto diz:

    Obrigado mas essa informação não é de onde está o relatório mas sim o dito propriamente.
    O original está no endereço http://dutchcycling.nl/ , em downloads.
    Bom trabalho.

  2. Humberto diz:

    Será possível ter acesso à ligação onde está o original do documento? Procurei e não encontrei…
    Obrigado.

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