In Mexico, bicycles are coming to the rescue of buses

The “Small Queen” bicycle is riding high in Puebla. This city in Southern Mexico, nicknamed the “City of Angels”, wants to give wings to its residents who travel by bicycle every day, by providing them with more cycling facilities.

The objective: encourage users to access the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system through their own means and thereby relieve congestion on the 24 secondary bus lines to access it, which are today saturated. This is a way for Puebla to attract more people to the lines bearing the BRT label.
But for this city with 1.5 million residents, it also involves promoting the use of a non-polluting means of transport, which is rapid, has health benefits, is affordable and part of a sustainable development approach.

Bike garage

To start with, Puebla is going to develop a new section of cycle track leading to Margaritas Station, thereby providing safe access by bicycle to this terminus of Line 2 of the BRT. This development will come in addition to 65 km of tracks already reserved for bicycles, as well as 72 self-service bicycle stations installed in the city.

At this station, cyclists will also soon be able to safely park their bicycles, then continue their journey by the BRT bus without being afraid of their bike being stolen. Indeed, the city is going to build a bicycle garage with 200 places which only users of the bus network will be able to access by presenting their card. Puebla is also considering an electro-mechanical rack system which will be unlocked using the same pass.

To finance this equipment promoting intermodality – meaning the use of several means of transport to get about – Puebla has benefited from a EUR 500,000 AFD grant from the European Union’s Euroclima+ program. AFD is also monitoring this project and assisting the city with its implementation. This should help release the brakes to cycling in Mexico.