Tereza Valcan

Bike 4 Bucharest

January 11, 2009 at 5:18 pm · Filed under General

First of all, congrats to Globe on sharing and promoting the vision of a “world where bikes are the majority”. I read about about this project in Monocle and was thrilled of the initiative.
I am starting my story by stating I wish to make a difference in my city. Living and working in Bucharest (Romania), one of the most beautiful yet polluted cities in Europe facing huge traffic jams daily, I believe there is time to take initiative. Based on a vision of improving life of a city and community, I along with the local biking group (most who are young professionals in top management positions with multinationals or antrepreneurs) are planning to undertake a project to promote biking in Bucharest. This project is an attempt to reduce pollution, traffic jams and at the same time, to create an opportunity for people to live healthier and more active lives by choosing to use bicycles as the main transportation in the city (whereas for professional or recreational purposes).
Bucharest is a city of 2.6 million residents, with 76% of the population choosing to commute by car and only 0.5% by bicycle. At the same time, 70% of the city pollution is caused by traffic. Looking at cities such as Berlin or Vienna for inspiration, our aim is to turn Bucharest into a biking-friendly city and thus improve the quality of life for all of us.
The concept is focused on involving multiple stakeholders, such as public authorities, private companies and organizations, NGOs, the existing biking community and regular citizens in a Bike 4 Bucharest program. Companies will support the program through a CSR scheme where bikes may be donated to citizens and also internally to employees). The Mayor of Bucharest has already done initiatives on greening the city through various activities, including promoting biking (see www.capitalaverde.ro). The key is to have a collaborative approach where many entities will be able to become involved and benefit from the program, with the end result of turning Bucharest into a greener, healthier city.
I am a passionate bicycle rider, yet busy work schedule does not always allow me to enjoy the sport. I mostly go on weekend getaways for mountain biking trips, but would really like to first start biking in the city more - to work (hence, I would love a Globe bike to “ride the ride” not just “talk the talk” and take on the Bike 4 Bucharest project that has been brewing for awhile. I am a strong promoter of biking as a lifestyle, not only as a healthy sport, and have always tried to have a contribution in enlarging the bikers’ community (including by promoting biking in national publications, see ex: http://www.zf.ro/dupa-afaceri/dupa-afaceri-velo-revolutia-4612495/). And that’s because I really believe that biking has a positive impact on a city, on the people and on the environment. It builds strong communities. Such as the one Globe is building through this initiative. I would love to ride a beautifully-designed Globe as my “urban bicycle” & help me promote this trend in Bucharest and nationwide.
You can follow me on Twitter @tvalcan. See some pictures with my mountain bike on Facebook.
Thank you, Globe, for this initiative! I will continue to follow you. And congrats to all the great entries, so inspirational to all. Some great ideas will spur out of this, I can only hope they will be put into practice.
PS: I am a big fan of Lance Armstrong. Go Team Radio Shack!

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Bike 4 Bucharest

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