I want to ride my bicycle
Pozuelo de Alarcón, with a GDP per capita of € 51,634, is the richest municipality in the Autonomous Region of Madrid. It would be logic to think that the most basic needs in terms of infrastructure and services are covered; hence the major’s office should implement policies that go further and achieve more ambitious goals. The starting point can be the adhesion to the Covenant of Mayors, signed by Pozuelo’s Mayor on March 21st 2013.
The main challenge of Pozuelo de Alarcón is transportation. There is an absolute dependence on private transportation, not only in terms of the lack of alternatives, but also a strong private car transportation culture. Because of its quality of dormitory community, most of its inhabitant’s trips are pendulous. People use their own cars in order to travel to the work place, either directly, or towards a public transportation hub (underground, light train, train). The problem worsens due to the low occupancy per vehicle, almost one person per vehicle. All these, result in high traffic congestion as well as in a lack of parking space; beside the high amount of CO2 emissions per person. Therefore, it is required the implementation of new measures that tackle the aforementioned challenge.
Reinforce the public transportation system
Public transport lines
Currently, Pozuelo de Alarcón has 30 daytime and 4 nighttime bus lines; 10 kilometres with 13 stops of light train; and one train station. The municipality has, in general, a good coverage of public transportation. However, the services are poor in terms of frequency, above all in the bus, having a mean of 30 minutes between buses. Thus, the improvement effort should be directed to increase the frequency of the transports, chiefly during the rush hours. Together with this improvement, the integration of IT in the public transportation system in the line’s stops and in smartphones would provide the users with real-time information, such as timetables, time to next departure, line maps… that would enhance substantially the quality of the service.
Promote carpooling
As mentioned before, the occupancy of private vehicles is just about 1 person per vehicle. Sharing the car in the way to work means less cars in the road, hence less traffic congestion and less parking problems. At the same time, the cost of transportation per person is lower, as well as the amount of pollution. It is also, a more social way of transportation, since there is interpersonal communication. A digital platform that works as a meeting point and bulletin board, would allow car owners to share their daily routes and let people with the same route to get in touch with each other.
Create an alternative: the bicycle as a mean of transport
The ideal solution for the transportation problem from, not only the environmental point of view, but also in terms of health and costs, would be the use of the bicycle as a mean of transport. Nowadays, Pozuelo de Alarcón has 17 kilometres of bicycle lanes, although scattered through the locality in short paths no longer than 2.5 kilometres. The municipality claims that the goal for the next years is to build up to a total of 50 kilometres bicycle lane network with the aim of turning the bicycle into a feasible mean of transport. However, no tangible plan has been presented to date, with the exception of a 1.5 km lane that will connect 3 different green areas.
Current bicycle lanes
This mentioned project and the already existing lanes show a clear intention of recreational use, despite the claims of the municipality. Many of the lanes are circular routes with neither connection between each other nor to public transportation hubs. Due to the fact that the bulk of the motorized movements are bound to outside-the-locality work places, if the bicycle is to become a real mean of transport, then a different approach to the lane’s layout is required.
The lane network has to be a web that connects the different neighbourhoods to the main transportation hubs, namely, Colonia Jardín metro station and Pozuelo train station, as well as certain key light train stops. This would allow the so called mixed-mode commuting, a scenario where the passenger would be able to ride from his home to the public transport station and either park his bicycle there and take the communal transport or bring it with him and ride from the destination station to the workplace. To do so, it is also require an adequate parking infrastructure that guarantees the safety of the bicycles.
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13 Dec 2013
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juancarlosgomezmartin
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