Urban Mobility of Costa Rica
The city of Carthage, like many GAM cities, have been presenting a critical point in urban mobility terms. The great metropolitan area (GAM) of Costa Rica owned in 2011 a population close to 2.3 million inhabitants, and this growth has been increasing, the lack of opportunities in rural areas have caused many Costa Ricans to decide to go to liveAl GAM in search of opportunities. This large concentration of inhabitants directly affects the demand for transport services. The transport model we use in our country fails to meet that demand in a good way and the population is the one that suffers by not having mobility to fulfill its commitments. On the other hand, the country has seen an excessive increase in private vehicular load.
In our country there are more and more vehicles per inhabitant, congesting the roads and causing a collapse in the mobilization of people. The mobilization options are based on three bus areas, taxis and private transport, whose routes are arranged according to an old -fashioned radial scheme between the cities and their surroundings, and does not always correspond to the real travel needs of the users.
Transport times and costs are increasing. This without saying that the public and private transport model is highly polluting and inefficient in energy terms by being based on internal combustion engines which produces the largest CO2 emissions in the country.
The well -known "peak hours" cause increasing travel costs for people and companies, generating direct negative impacts on productivity and competitiveness. This mobility deficiency has made us a stagnant city and this causes deterioration in people’s health, but also in the loss of business opportunities or proper use of time to meet family and individual needs.
The bicycle as a cheap, safe, efficient and healthy means of transport
Not only as a matter of mobility, but also of public health and the well -being of people. It is necessary to have efforts that promote active and healthy transport. The bicycle is seen as a means of transport in some cities outside Costa Rica, reaching a more protagonist role in urban mobility and giving us a clear example of sustainable and healthy mobility for the citizen. There are many challenges to encourage the policies that the bicycle is understood in our cities as a feasible and safe urban means of urban transportation.
Bicycles are a means of communication that has great advantages compared to other media since they are small, silent, easy to manipulate (light) and ecological. They are easy to ride, handle and park them.
The use of the bicycle as an alternative means of urban transport provides us with a series of advantages within which we can mention:
- It is a cheaper transport option:
- The bicycle is a much more accessible means of transport.
- Investment costs are much lower than that of any private transportation. Not to mention that it does not require fuel and that the spare parts are much cheaper.
- It is more effective in time displacement issues
As we mentioned above, one of the advantages of the use of the bicycle is that it allows us to move better in the city and we can save time and be more effective.
By bicycle you can move distances up to 7 km in an efficient way. In general, half of the distances that are traveled in a city are almost always short and could be resolved by bicycle saving time and money.
Contributes to the mental and physical health of people.
Exercising help with people’s well -being. It is demonstrated that if people did physical activities continuous.
The bicycle is a flexible form of displacements. It is easy to ride and get off, it does not make noise, stops can be made, also change the route, and occupies very little space to park.
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