Cyclists set out on a ride through Brno, seeking greater support from the city council

Brno - More than 300 cyclists joined a ride today in Brno to draw attention to the problems of cycling traffic in the city. According to them, the city hall pays little attention to the sector and the results in this area are poor.
Cyclists criticize that unlike other cities, they cannot enter the main part of the pedestrian zone in the center during the day, while some cars have exceptions. They also complain that after 20 years of work, only 38 kilometers of bike lanes are marked on Brno's roads. In contrast, the Spanish city of Seville established 130 kilometers in four years, as organizers stated in a press release.
According to supporters of cycling transport, much more money should be allocated from the Brno budget for it. They argue that cycling is the second environmentally friendly way of travel besides public transport. If 65 percent of Brno residents use public transport, which costs 1.56 billion crowns annually, then 50 million crowns should go to cycling transport because two percent are commuters. However, the city's expenditures in this chapter are about a tenth of that, they stated.
"If the policy-approved General Plan for Cycling Transport in Brno is to become a common reality, as in Břeclav where the share of cycling transport is twenty-five percent, it is necessary to allocate adequate funds for its development," said its supporters.
The organizers of today’s event also argued that support for cycling is visible in other cities. Free entry to pedestrian zones is reportedly common in Prague, Olomouc, and Pardubice. Two-way traffic for cyclists on selected one-way streets is allowed in these cities, as well as in larger cities like Hradec Králové and Opava. "In Brno, there are only four such passable streets, which is insufficient for normal movement in the city. On the contrary, just this year, new dead-end one-way streets have been created in two streets," the organizers stated.
Activists also pointed out that Danish architect Jan Gehl recently raised concerns about the organization of urban transport in the Czech Republic. "Why are we planning cities for cars and not taking care of the people who live there?" he reportedly asked at the conference on Public Spaces. Architect Eva Jiřičná also criticized at a January discussion in Brno the calculation that in the future there will be more and more cars and that is why we need to build accordingly. According to her, cities are being destroyed this way. On the contrary, in the future, private transport must necessarily be reduced, and public transport must grow. "Otherwise, there will be no cities in the future," she stated.