Transportation
How Bogotá’s Cycling Superhighway Shaped a Generation
For many families, the Ciclovía is often one of the very best things about living in Bogotá. And kids start very young.
BOGOTÁ—It’s a misty Sunday morning and the Septima, a choking six-lane thoroughfare usually packed with smoky buses, cars, and yellow taxis, is quiet. There is movement here, but with half the road closed to motorized traffic, hardly any cars.
Instead, parents jog along with running buggies. Cyclists decked out in Lycra take to the street alongside toddlers on tricycles. One couple flies past on a tandem with a baby on the back; behind is a grandmother getting a gentle push up the incline as her pedaling slows. There are men and women, young and old, the Sunday strollers and the athletes. All of Bogotá is here, and it’s marvelous.