THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN - Cefid

THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier [email protected]
Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina UDESC: Grupo CICLOBRASIL
www.udesc.br/ciclo
Human Sciences doctorate student at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina UFSC
BPP Resident Representative in Brasil
Milton Carlos Della Giustina [email protected]
Florianópolis Cyclists’ Association www.viaciclo.org.br
VIACICLO President
Jaap Rijnsburger [email protected]
I-ce Interface for Cycling Expertise www.i-ce.info
BPP Coordinator
Summary
The purpose of the Bicycle Partnership Program is to increase pro-poor mobility. Cycling mobility is an
essential condition for fighting poverty. For many urban poor the opportunity to cycle makes the difference
between being excluded from the city’s economy and access to the urban markets for income and jobs. A
way of addressing crucial transportation issues, whether on specific neighborhood streets or in terms of
local, regional and national transportation policy-making is the empowerment of local actors, building skills,
perspectives and abilities for dealing with power and other contextual factors; transforming individual tools
into combined-coherent strategies applied over a medium- to long-term horizon. The aim of this paper is to
make a brief overview of the state of art of Cycling in Brasil and to present the ongoing Bicycle Partnership
Program (BPP 2007-2010); an international cooperation program with funding from the Dutch Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, coordinated by Interface for Cycling Expertise, from the Netherlands.
Key-Words: Bicycle, Cycling, Mobility, Accessibility
Introduction
A way of addressing crucial transportation issues, whether on specific neighborhood
streets or in terms of local, regional and national transportation policy-making is the
empowerment of local actors, building skills, perspectives and abilities for dealing with
power and other contextual factors; transforming individual tools into combined-coherent
strategies applied over a medium- to long-term horizon.
Supporting people’s struggles for a better living space is about helping them to choose
“the scenarios they can live with” – the search for the inner feeling of basic human needs
satisfied - the feeling of belonging to, and participating in the creation of, the city scenario.
It is about informing how the transportation system interacts with the city as a territory and
living space.
Cycling is included in this idea of showing/proving that quality public space improves
livability, equity, accessibility and safety in the cities. Cycling brings the idea of equity in
the access to the city.
The design of the city that is cycling inclusive takes into consideration the mobility for
pedestrians, people with mobility restraints and the priority to a public transport that is
affordable by its population.
The aim of this paper is to make a brief overview of the state of art of Cycling in Brasil and
to present the ongoing Bicycle Partnership Program (BPP 2007-2010); an international
cooperation program with funding from the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs, coordinated
by Interface for Cycling Expertise, from the Netherlands.
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
Cycling policy arena in Brasil
The Government sector
In 2004 the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (Ministério das Cidades www.cidades.gov.br),
through the National Secretary of Transport and Urban Mobility (SeMob) created a
national program to promote bicycle use as transport, the Brazilian Bicycle Mobility
program - Bicicleta Brasil.
The program provided funding for municipalities to cover costs of projects and cycling
infra-structure. Meetings, training courses happened, some including international
expertise such as I-ce (www.i-ce.info), ITDP (www.itdp.org), GTZ- SUTP (www.sutp.org),
World Bank (www.worldbank.org), Movilization (www.movilization.org).
The renewed version of the Brazilian Cycling Planning Manual (Caderno de Referência
para a Elaboração de Plano de Mobilidade por Bicicleta nas Cidades)1 was published in
September 2007.
Important to mention the Ministry of Cities is leading the Master Plan of Cities process in
the country. The Federal Law n. 10.257 of 2001, called Estatuto da Cidade2 (statute of the
city) changed the chapters 181 and 182 of the Brazilian Constitution and gave a total new
approach for land use planning, considering the social function of the urban land.
The Estatuto da Cidade also states cities with more than 20.000 inhabitants must develop
a Master Plan by a participatory process (Plano Diretor Participativo3 – the municipality
must involve the community). For cities with more than 500 thousand inhabitants it is
mandatory a Mobility Master Plan4, also according to a participatory process.
The Ministry of Cities presented a new law on Urban Sustainable Mobility Policy (projeto
de lei da Política Nacional de Mobilidade Urbana Sustentável)5. This law says that in order
to assure the participatory management and democratization of the public space car use
must be restricted, thus promoting social inclusion and the environmental sustainability.6
The Bicycle Industry and Commerce sector
The Brazilian production of Bicycles is about 5 million units per year. Brazilian Bicycles
fleet is estimated in 60 million vehicles (car 34 million). It is expected that at least 1/3 of
these bicycles circulate in the streets of urban and rural areas from the country everyday.
Transport bicycles account for 53% of the market.7
Notes
1 MCidades, 2007. Caderno de Referência para Elaboração de Plano de Mobilidade por Bicicleta nas
Cidades http://www.cidades.gov.br/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2957&Itemid=0
2 MCidades, 2007. Estatuto da Cidade (English Version Available)
http://www.cidades.gov.br/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=127
3 MCidades, 2007. Livro Plano Diretor
http://www.cidades.gov.br/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=138
4 MCidades, 2007. Caderno de Referência para Elaboração de Plano de Mobilidade Urbana
http://www.cidades.gov.br/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3082&Itemid=0
5 MCidades, 2007. Projeto de Lei da Mobilidade Urbana
http://www.cidades.gov.br/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2315&Itemid=0
6 Despite the good intentions of the Ministry of Cities, Brasil is in frank motorization process.
7 ABRACICLO http://www.abraciclo.com.br/
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
2 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
The bicycle production and commerce sector, leaded by the bicycle commerce association
ABRADIBI (www.abradibi.com.br) and the bicycle producers association ABRACICLO
(www.abraciclo.com.br) created, in 2005, the Instituto Pedala Brasil – IPB
(www.pedalabrasil.com), a non profit civil organization that can facilitate to its own partners
to deduce 2% of its operational profits from the income tax, if they invest in IPB’s projects.
Pedala Brasil Institute has been promoting educational campaigns, trainings for
technicians and the IPB prize of best initiatives of cycling promotion.
The Bicycle Advocacy, the third sector
Since the end of the 90s, UDESC (State University of Santa Catarina) through the
Extension program CicloBrasil group (www.udesc.br/ciclo) and Viaciclo (Florianópolis
Cyclists’ Union www.viaciclo.org.br) have been promoting cycling in the city, the state and
the country.
Efforts to improve bicycle-based mobility in Florianópolis were helped along enormously by
contacts made and lessons learned during Velo Mondial and Velo City Conferences. At
these events, Florianópolis’ bicycle advocates met leaders of two international programs
that have since helped the city develop a more comprehensive approach. Help from the
LOCOMOTIVES (Low Cost Mobility Initiatives) program, coordinated by the Netherlands’
Interface for Cycling Expertise, I-ce (www.i-ce.info); and URB-AL network number 8 (now
Cities for Mobility Program www.cities-for-mobility.org) coordinated by the city of Stuttgart,
that was later followed by contributions from the Movilization program, coordinated by the
Dutch International Bicycle Consultancy, IBC (www.cyclinginfo.nl). Advocacy groups in
Florianópolis also received support from World Carfree Network (www.worlcarfree.net).
The city of Florianópolis has around 22km of disconnected cycle ways, mostly used for
leisure, 2% of daily trips are made by bicycle. IPUF, the Urban Planning Institute has
developed several projects of cycle ways and cycle lanes, some are under construction.
Florianopolis Beira Mar Norte Cycle Way by Antonio Miranda 2006
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
3 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
In January 2005, with the support of World Carfree Network and LOCOMOTIVES
program, Udesc and Viaciclo participated with a stand of bicycle advocacy in the World
Social Forum (WSF) held in Porto Alegre (POA). In WSF the milestone for the Brazilian
Cyclists’ Union (União de Ciclistas do Brasil UCB) was set, with the creation of the
Brazilian Forum on Bicycle Mobility (Forum Brasileiro de Mobilidade por Bicicleta FBMB).
Critical Mass Bike-ride World Social Forum 2006 POA by Luis Bevacqua
Bicycle advocates of Porto Alegre have been participating in the city process. Critical mass
rides and manifestations have been organized, but it seems no legal advocacy group is yet
formed. Significant to mention World Resource Institute WRI (www.wri.org) created the
Centro de Transporte Sustentável CTS-Brazil based in POA.
Universities have played a role in the process also. The Federal University UFRGS
through Lastran, the Laboratory of Transport Systems (www.producao.ufrgs.br) and the
Pontifícia
Universidade
Católica
PUC
took
part
in
Moviman
program
(www.eptc.com.br/moviman) from URB-AL.
The government of the city is currently developing the Integrated Cycling Mobility
Masterplan and plans to build 15km of cycle paths in 2008. Studies on the urban surface
train (Trensurb) regarding bike commuters were carried out and bike parking will be
provided in their stations. Bicycles are accepted in Trensurb on Sundays and holidays.
In May 2005, UDESC and VIACICLO organized the first Brazilian Bicycle Advocacy
Meeting in Florianópolis. This was supported by LOCOMOTIVES International program
(www.i-ce.info/locomotives).
I Brazilian Bicycle Advocacy Meeting Florianópolis by Jeferson Sousa
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
4 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
In July 2006, Escola de Bicicleta (www.escoladebicicleta.com.br), with support from the
government of the city of São Paulo (SP), and together with Viaciclo and CicloBrasil
group/UDESC (again as part of LOCOMOTIVES activities), promoted the Second Bicycle
Advocacy Meeting in SP. Cycling projects were presented by municipal staff to advocates
and a meeting of the Brazilian Forum on Bicycle Mobility occurred.
Brazilian Bike Advocacy Meeting SP 2006 by Zé Lobo
Bicycle Advocacy in SP started in the eighties, with the Night Biker’s Club
(www.nightbikers.com). Currently several different groups of cicloativistas promote cycling
and claim for a better environment for using the bicycle as transport.
Since 2004 the government of the city of São Paulo (www.capital.sp.gov.br) has been
considering cycling as transport more emphatically. In 2006 a municipal executive group
(Pró-Ciclista) was created. Leaded by the Green and Environment and the Transport
Municipal Secretaries, the aim of Pró-Ciclista group is to push the municipality towards
cycling enhancement. Studies, projects, field technical visits and some improvement in the
infrastructure of the disconnected existing bicycle paths took place. Despite the efforts, the
megalopolis yet deals with difficulties in moving on to concrete achievements.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy ITDP (www.itdp.org) and the
Instituto de Energia e Meio Ambiente (related to Hewlett Foundation www.hewlett.org)
have been collaborating with the municipality.
Also important to mention that the bicycle group Comissão Bicicletas from ANTP
(www.antp.org.br), the National Association of Public Transport (based in SP), has been
organizing events and publishing technical documents about cycling.
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
5 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
The Critical Mass group, Bicicletada (www.bicicletada.org), has been promoting bike use
creatively. Participants of the monthly bike ride occupy the streets distributing educative
leaflets, promoting a peaceful coexistence between drivers, bikers and pedestrians. They
place pro-bike traffic signs and paint bicycles on streets, they make street parties with
video exhibition, music and artistic interventions, they creatlike in "Vaga Viva",
transforming a parking spot on a little park, a temporary and symbolic human space.
Vaga Viva in 2006 Carfree Day , São Paulo, by Mariana Cavalcante
The group managed to secure an official meeting point at Av Paulista, one of the most
important and jammed avenues of the city. The place was nominated by law as the Praça
do Ciclista (Bicyclist's Square).
Bicyclist's Square on monthly Critical Mass ride , São Paulo, by Thiago Benicchio
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
6 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
In Rio de Janeiro, the bicycle advocacy group Transporte Ativo (TA www.ta.org.br) has
been very active organizing campaigns, manifestations, participating in the Cycle Planning
Group of the city called GT Ciclovias. This executive group formed by municipal
departments is leaded by the ones planning for the bike, Instituto Pereira Passos IPP
(www.rio.rj.gov.br/ipp). IPP and TA participated in URB-AL network 8 and Movilization
international programs.
The first part of Ciclovias Cariocas (the cycle way system) was built in 1992 and since then
it has not stopped to grow. Studies of 2003 show there are two hundred and ten thousand
bicycle trips to work in the city every day. In the metropolitan area, the bicycle trips
represent a share of 3,2% in modal split or 645 thousand trips/day. Currently there are
150km of cycle paths and several bike-parking spread all over the city.
Ciclovia da Orla, Rio, by Zé Lobo
In November 2007 Transporte Ativo and Viaciclo (with support of IPP, BPP and CicloBrasil
group/Udesc) organized the Third Brazilian Bicycle Advocacy Meeting, in Rio. In the event
the Brazilian Cyclists’ Union was formally launched (União de Ciclistas do Brasil
www.uniaodeciclistas.org.br).
III Brazilian Bicycle
Advocacy Meeting
by Eduardo Green Short
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
7 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
III Brazilian Bicycle Advocacy Meeting Bike Riding by Zé Lobo
The Bicycle Partnership Program
The purpose of the Bicycle Partnership Program is to increase pro-poor mobility, the
possibility to move about to seek and create chances for income, education and health.
Cycling mobility is an essential condition for fighting poverty. For many urban poor the
opportunity to cycle makes the difference between being excluded from the city’s economy
and access to the urban markets for income and jobs. The cycling mobility increase is
realized by three program results relating to capacities of Civil society Organizations
(CSOs) to promote pro-poor policies, the provision of affordable quality bicycles by the
markets and the application of cycling- inclusive planning and design by municipalities.
The overall objectives to which BPP contributes are threefold: Poverty reduced; Air quality
improved; Sustainable and livable cities
BPP is also taking into consideration there are different gender aspects in cycling
development for poverty reduction. Cycling development to create income opportunities
and better access to social services must be dealt with gender specifically, for equality in
access and benefit. Planning of cycling facilities also has to be accompanied with gender
specific analyses of requirements because women rate safety and security higher.
As the name indicates partnerships form the back bone of the BPP program. The BPP
partnership plays a role for the direct deliveries in the program, such as expertise,
knowledge and funds, but equally for the public and political appreciation in the
Netherlands with regards to cycling mobility in international perspective.
Partnerships have been created on the level of municipalities, CSOs and universities.
At the municipal level, the cycling.nl network serves the support of municipalities in Africa,
Asia and Latin America by counterpart municipal professionals from the Netherlands.
At the CSO level an international partnership of cycling CSOs is created in the
LOCOMOTIVES (Low Cost Mobility Initiatives) network.
Universities have formed a partnership in the Cycling Academic (CAN) Network. A
collaborative agreement in the framework of the Bicycle Partnership Program, signed on
the 19th of June 2007 between I-CE, the University of Twente (UT-CTW) and the
International Institute for Geo- information Science (ITC). The international members are
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
8 THE BICYCLE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN BRASIL AND LOCAL ACTORS
World Conference on Development of Cities - Porto Alegre – Brasil - February 2008
the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IIT-TRIPP), the University of Cape Town (UCT),
and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (FURGS) in Porto Alegre, Brasil. The
core of the CAN collaboration is the Young Researchers Program in which BPP supports
three PhD researches delivering in 2010. Another five PhD researches on cycling mobility
are funded otherwise.
Important factors that influence program sustainability are: Keeping the support of
politicians and the public for the commitment to invest in cycling development; Keeping the
developed knowledge and transferred capacities needed for the qualitative cycling
development and promotion by municipalities and CSOs; Keeping the financial resources
needed for implementing the developed plans.
I-CE acts as an interface between the demand for support to develop cycling mobility and
services. The services regard expertise, experiences and culture. Different kinds of actors
have a role to play such as municipalities, civil society organizations, universities, the
bicycle industry. I-CE takes initiatives to liaise organizations in the Netherlands with their
colleagues in developing countries and a platform for south to south partnerships. The
format for municipalities is exchange between peers, for civil society organizations
financial support, for universities the Cycling Academic Network, for the bicycle industry
joint ventures.
Final Considerations
In the case of Brasil there is a process already going on. BPP is making a sequence of the
work of LOCOMOTIVES with the CSOs, but different than this one, BPP is also
addressing the municipality directly. The challenge is to put it all together.
Cycling policies depend on close cooperation between governments that must take the
lead in investments of facilities, representatives of users to secure quality requirements
and experts who guide planning and design. BPP is creating the conditions for this
cooperation, by demanding multi stakeholder involvement and offering expertise with
methodologies to elaborate the local process.
The BPP establishes new practices on cycling inclusive planning in cities. These new
practices should change national standards for planning and design, which demands
interaction between local and national governments, CSOs and experts. When the national
standards are adapted, leverage takes place of the new local practices to other cities. This
process will be enhanced by capacity building programs organized in cooperation with
Brazilian national government.
References
I-CE Interface for Cycling Expertise. Bicycle Partnership Program Monitoring Protocol.
November 2007.
XAVIER Giselle NA; PARDO Carlos F; SAGARIS Lake; DIAZ Oscar E; GIUSTINA Milton
C Della. Networking pro Bicycles in Latin America and the Caribbean: SUSTRAN LACSUStainable TRansport Action Network. Velo City 2007 www.velo-city2007.com Munich,
Germany, jun. 2007.
Disponível: http://www.sustranlac.org/DOCUMS/SUSTRAN_LAC_VELO-CITY2007.pdf
Giselle Noceti Ammon Xavier
Milton Carlos Della Giustina
Jaap Rijnsburger
www.i-ce.info
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