Cali, Colombia: Harnessing pandemic-era policy to improve road safety
Cycling has always been popular in Cali, a mostly flat city with warm weather year-round, but the pandemic has brought bicyclists into the street like never before.
This case study was published more than two years ago.
Cali launched a no-fee bicycle sharing program with Partnership support in September 2020, featuring a phone application and a communication campaign to encourage cycling, both as a strategy for safe distancing—to help prevent the spread of COVID-19—and as an affordable solution for safe and active mobility.
The city selected locations for the bike share after studying patterns of pandemic bicycle use and learning about routes that feed high-density areas and best supplement mass transportation. A cohort of "Bike Doctors" was added to the project following research results, which indicated that while many residents owned bicycles, they were often prevented from full use as they did not have access to repairs. The city officially designated bicycle repair as an essential service, permitting it to continue operations even when other activities were limited during pandemic lockdown measures.
A series of videos and social media campaigns continually have highlighted these resources for residents.
Read the case study
Using COVID-19 lockdown road-crash data to inform transport safety policy: Cali, Colombia
The city of Cali has one of Colombia’s highest road traffic fatality rates. In response, city authorities monitored changes in speed and road traffic deaths during the pandemic—a period of time with fewer vehicles on the streets—to better understand some of the trends and implications for local road safety policies. Resulting data demonstrated riskier behavior by drivers as well as more severe road traffic accidents. These findings help justify the city’s newly strengthened speed-management measures and a greater push toward active transport, such as the successful “En Bici me Cuido” bike share program and campaign.
