(Eagle News) — The Quezon City government has announced it would fast-track its plans to extend the city’s existing bike lanes as more people shift to bicycles for transport amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Mayor Joy Belmonte said the extension of the city’s 55-kilometer bicycle lane “in the next few weeks” was because of “the pressing need for transport during the pandemic, and the bike culture that emerged…”
She noted, however, that bicycle lanes were already a “priority” before the pandemic as part of the city’s “global commitment to reducing air pollution by 2030.”
According to the statement, the city plans to extend its bike routes to 161 kilometers, “almost three times longer than the existing bike routes.”
The city also said it had plans to upgrade its routes by placing barriers, signage, markers and “other necessary infrastructure to ensure the safety of the bike-riding public.”
“The city will be working with the Move As One Coalition, which has donated bikes to frontliners, in identifying other possible routes, especially those near hospitals and community care facilities that will ease the daily transport struggles of health workers,” the city government said.
