According to The Korea Times, Seoul is making progress towards implementing a bike-sharing program and kilometers more safe places to ride by 2010. Presently, "the city lacks road infrastructure and related transportation law to guarantee the efficient operation of the free bicycle project." To create a bike-friendly city first, Seoul "will expand the current 55-kilometer bike-only road length to up to 360 kilometers by 2010. For the plan, it will divide the city into five areas and invest 21.8 billion won to set up 45 bike-only roads." 21.8 billion won is about $24 million USD. Not too shabby for improving bike facilities over a 3-year period.
It's good to see this level of investment towards improving bike infrastructure to better support bicycling, the environment, Seoulites health, and bike-sharing. Bike-sharing is but one form of bike infrastructure, however, won't be successful if a bike-friendly environment does not already exist. It seems that Seoul understands this and is planning for the safe places for everyone to ride in addition to bike transit to complement it.
Image credit: Lonely Planet
No comments:
Post a Comment