An urban reform, not bikes or any sort of transportation, is the gateway to urban progress.
I was about to argue that bikes would never solve the transportation problems in most of the huge latinamerican cities. Not simply because they are huge, but because the way they grew -- "freed" slaves expelled from rural zones and piled up in the periphery of urban cities, unassisted by even the most basic public facilities. In cities developed like that, most people live very far away from jobs and services and, then, traffic jams are the norm and commutes are usually extremely long.
But then I realize: such commutes should be the exception, not the rule. And that will never change while real estate speculation remains allowed and we keep treating the poorer as sub-humans.
I was about to argue that bikes would never solve the transportation problems in most of the huge latinamerican cities. Not simply because they are huge, but because the way they grew -- "freed" slaves expelled from rural zones and piled up in the periphery of urban cities, unassisted by even the most basic public facilities. In cities developed like that, most people live very far away from jobs and services and, then, traffic jams are the norm and commutes are usually extremely long.
But then I realize: such commutes should be the exception, not the rule. And that will never change while real estate speculation remains allowed and we keep treating the poorer as sub-humans.