BOGOTA, Colombia — Puffing on bicycles up the steep hill of La Suba Avenue, riding rented horses to lunch or simply catching a bus to work, residents of this capital city left their cars at home Thursday in a bold experiment in ecology consciousness.
"Day Without a Car" was Mayor Enrique Penalosa's audacious attempt to lure residents out of the 700,000 private automobiles that regularly clog the boulevards and pollute the air of this high-perched city. From 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., buses and taxis were the only motor vehicles allowed on city streets cordoned off to create bike lanes.
Modeled on a French experiment, it was Latin America's first attempt to induce all the residents of a major city to leave their cars home on the same day--all day.
Bogota has already instituted bike lanes on Sundays and holidays and restricted the use of private cars during morning and evening rush hours. Even so, weekday traffic is often gridlocked and the capital still has the fourth-worst air pollution in Latin America, a highly polluted region.
Penalosa's more drastic measure produced results: At noon Thursday, air pollution levels were 22% lower than average for this time of year.
Bogota residents must start thinking about alternative transportation, said Oscar Diaz, a member of the organizing committee for the no-car event. "If we continue at this rate," he warned, "in 2020, the speed limit will be 5 miles an hour."
The mayor has pledged that before his term ends in December, his administration will have built 200 miles of bicycle paths in this city of high-rises and no subway. Thursday's combination of a festive atmosphere--and $12 fines for the 256 motorists who didn't take the mayor seriously--was part of a campaign to persuade residents to use the cycle lanes.
Carrera Septima, the main boulevard through the colonial downtown, was thronged with skaters, joggers and two-passenger bicycle taxis.
Reporters from the celebrity magazine Jet Set and RCN radio interviewed cyclists and skaters from a 19th century carriage pulled by a matched team.
The day's most enthusiastic supporters tended to be young, athletic residents such as Carlos Arturo Salazar, a 23-year-old clerk. He said he considered the bike ride from his home near La Suba Avenue to his downtown office training for a 10K race, because the distance was about right.
