(SPOT.ph) With restrictions in place on public transportation for over a year now, commuters in Metro Manila have come up with alternative ways to go from one place to another: biking. Some have taken out their old bikes from storage, while others learned how to bike for the first time. But one of the biggest problems when biking in the Metro is the lack of bike lanes, putting cyclists at risk as they weave through traffic or maneuver their way through potholes and parked cars near the sidewalk. Pasig City, for its part, has started adding more protected bike lanes for cyclists, even along a main road as narrow as Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Avenue in Barangays Santolan and Rosario.
Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Avenue is a two-way road connecting Ortigas Avenue to the Marikina-Infanta Highway. The avenue's bike lane started out as a temporary fix with orange traffic cones in the second quarter of 2020, but the cones kept getting moved or destroyed. In June 2020, the road was painted with white borders to make way for a wider bike lane; and by March 2021, the pop-up bike lane was made more permanent after the installation of orange bollards.
Some people would argue that adding a bike lane would make narrow roads more prone to traffic. A YouTube video by Pinoy Bikepacker shows that it has always been plagued with terrible traffic, with our without the protected bike lanes. The only difference is that cyclists can now use the road safely, and maybe even encourage more people to bike instead of riding a car that takes up more space.
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"These are things that go beyond COVID. Nakita natin nung ECQ naging mas bukas 'yong mga tao sa ganitong...bike lanes and alternative transportation. Lalo na nung andaming nag-close [na] mga rota. Hopefully, we'll be able to sustain that kasi kailangan talaga e. It might be a little inconvenient for cars kasi dati buong kalsada sa kanila. Ngayon, kailangan nila mag-share. Pero kailangan natin gawin 'to e kasi, in the first place, kaya naging ganito ka-traffic sa Metro Manila, it's because we're so car-centric," said Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto on March 25 regarding the implementation of strict bike lanes in the city.
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Source: Spot PH
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