The mayor of the National District, Carolina Mejia, arrived at her office on Tuesday on a bicycle. Her office wants to promote riding a bike in the city. She says that by doing so herself, she wants to encourage her employees to use bikes. The capital city government is reading to inaugurate a new bicycle route in Santo Domingo.
Mejía and Beras also announced an increase in efforts to make Santo Domingo a more bicycle-friendly city. They announced a new bike circuit as of 3 June, with the inauguration of a pilot program on Bolívar Avenue. The bicycle route starts at Km Zero in Independence Park to take Bolívar Avenue, turn south at Abraham Lincoln Ave. and a return via Independencia Ave to Km. Zero (Independence Park).
During his term as mayor her predecessor, David Collado, launched the city’s first “bici-ruta” in the National District, down tree-laden Winston Churchill Avenue south to the Malecón by the sea.
Santo Domingo is a relatively small city. Yet, traffic congestion makes getting around in the city a nightmare. Because of traffic jams, getting to places by bicycle can be much quicker than by car. The hot temperatures work against going by bike, though. But given the coronavirus threat, the timing may be right for people to trade cars or riding multi-fare paying concho, bus or Metro for environmentally and health-friendly bike-riding.
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El Caribe
3 June 2020