Rebels of the Week: The Guerilla Bikers of Guadalajara
July 27th, 2011With Silver Circle being located in Boston, we are accustomed to seeing bike lanes full of happy peddlers whizzing their way down the streets. The bike lanes are narrow, and are subject to the parked motorist opening his door and sending a biker flying catapult-style. However, not every city has bike lanes, either because there is no demand, or there is a demand and, as usual, government isn’t responsive enough to create a bike lane. This week’s rebels were fed up with waiting for a bike lane to be built, so they decided to build one themselves.
Our rebels are from Guadalajara, Mexico, a city that is said to put 350 more cars on the road each day. The local government there promised to install bike lanes in the city, but has since reneged on the promise. As a result, a group of students and teachers from a local technical school decided to take matters into their own hands, and built a 2.5 kilometer bike lane themselves. The project was funded by $1,000 in donations for paint and signs marking the bike lane and warning cars. It was not only a successful project, but it was done with less money than it would’ve needed if the government paid for its construction, which would’ve cost $500,000 given the materials, labor costs, and undoubtedly union rules with specific regulations.
The bike lane was up and running quickly, and while it is only a small stretch of road in a big city, it does give bikers the chance to ride down the streets in a safer manner, and it was done through private investment and a small group of rebels who just wanted to bike.
