Bicycles are an obvious alternative to owning a car and the solution to our ever-increasing pollution problem; so why aren't more people biking on a daily basis?
This year, the Taipei International Bicycle Design Competition (IBCD) attracted over 900 entries from around the world. The design solutions aim at increasing the usability of bikes (see pictures of the finalists' designs here).
Simon Páez, a Colombian citizen who won the competition's 2009 Merit Award tells us about his rationale behind TRIBO, the design concept that he submitted for this year's IBCD:
"In Bogota we have the largest infrastructure of bike lanes in South America, yet only 4% of the population ride their bikes to work every day. The city of Bogota developed bike lanes all around the city to decrease the traffic caused by the vehicular congestion, but this has not happened because vehicle users find bicycles unfit to move around the city. After investigating, I found that people weren't comfortable enough, and that they didn't feel safe enough to ride their bikes in a city like Bogota. TRIBO meets needs like safety and comfort to encourage people to use the 350 km infrastructure of bike lanes in Bogota and thus decrease the social and envionmental impact made by vehicular congestion"
