Ecologists in Action and neighborhood organizations in favor of clean mobility have protested on Sunday, November 19, in ten Spanish cities against the setbacks in the advance of the bicycle in urban environments and denounce that even recently implemented bike lanes are being removed .
The organization plans to carry out "bike stations" and different protest activities in Bilbao, Castellón, Elche, Logroño, Madrid, Gijón, Málaga, Valladolid, Sigüenza, Coslada to demand the promotion of the use of public transport, mobility on foot or by bicycle at administrations and citizens.
With the motto 'Life on a bike', the groups want to ensure that we do not take a "step back" but, on the contrary, increase the infrastructure that facilitates this mobility, such as separated bike lanes, an increase in parking spaces for bicycles, according to Fernando Sáez from Elchebici has demanded, in a press conference organized by Ecologistas en Acción to present the mobilizations.
Furthermore, the spokesperson for Ecologists in Action in Madrid, Paco Segura, has stated that the situation in the capital is "bad" because sustainable mobility policies are "clearly regressive, beyond propaganda" and criticizes the lack of ambition of the low emissions zone of the City Council and the few speed controls limited to 30 kilometers per hour. Thus, he denounces the lack of communication campaigns to promote public transportation; that Madrid Central is "as stuck as before its implementation" and that the comprehensive street modifications are not being used to implement protected bike lanes.
Segura has also criticized the fact that bicycle parking is not expanded and that the new parking spaces are left in the hands of private companies and the paralysis of the redesign of the main roads that proposed reducing the space for cars and expanding it for public transport, bicycles and pedestrian traffic.
For this reason, more than 30 entities have called for a "bike festival" in Madrid that will depart at 11:00 a.m. from Plaza de Cibeles this Sunday and will travel through Plaza Elíptica or Madrid Río as well as a subsequent concentration in Cibeles at 12:30 p.m. where the claims.
The nearly 50 convening entities in the 10 Spanish localities have also sent letters to the first vice president and acting Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, to the acting Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, as well as to the president of the FEMP, María José García-Pelayo expressing her concern and demanding their involvement to stop the setbacks.
In the mobilizations, the protesters will read the manifesto sent to these departments in which they express their "concern" about the setback that is occurring in Spain after the constitution of City Councils in the May 2023 elections because "unfortunately, many of them have flag of negative reforms in relation to sustainable and smoke-free mobility".
Specifically, they cite the case of Barcelona, Valladolid, Elche, Logroño, Málaga, Palma, Gijón, Castelló or Valencia, which they define as new "black spots" in the process towards sustainable, active, safe and smoke-free mobility in the cities. For these groups, these "unacceptable" setbacks involve the dismantling of bike lanes, pedestrian areas or Low Emission Zones.
Thus, they denounce that these "go back" measures endanger people's health, are a setback in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and may even mean for many town councils the return of a million-dollar amount of European funds. which were assigned precisely to implement measures for the decarbonization of urban transport and the improvement of sustainable mobility.
For this reason, they insist that Spain cannot become an "exception" at the European level, retreating from low-emission mobility proposals in a context of climate emergency and energy crisis.
In short, they regret that "much of what has been achieved" is being lost despite the fact that it was clearly insufficient to face the climate challenge. "Instead of transforming our cities into less dependent on fossil fuels, we choose to return space to the polluting private motor vehicle," they denounce.
At a press conference, representatives of local associations gave an example of the dismantling of bike lanes in Elche and Logroño; the elimination of bus and bike lanes in Valladolid; the "threat" of elimination of the Castelló de la Plana ZBE; the removal of bollards that protect some schools or the suppression of the Kiss model
Other examples cited are the review of the Protegim las Escoles program in Barcelona; the removal of the protection elements from the Sant Cugat del Vallès cycle lane; the announcement by some cities that they will "reduce ZBEs to a minimum", such as Gijón and Badalona, or that they will eliminate traffic restrictions, such as in Murcia; the renunciation of large pedestrian spaces gained after Covid in Gijón and Barcelona or the intention to remove the conventional train from the center in Figueres.
For this reason, they ask municipal teams to reconsider their positions and have the protection of the population's health as their "top priority" while urging citizens to mobilize and make it "clear" that they do not want their cities to become colonized by cars. Finally, the Government and the autonomous communities are urged to ensure compliance with the law, specifically the Climate Change law, which establishes the obligation to implement low-emission zones.
