Korea becoming more bicycle-friendly

Skyrocketing prices and air pollution are suffocating the everyday lives of Koreans. While nothing else seems to be an epoch-making solution, bicycles, our old and familiar eco-friendly means of transportation, are regaining popularity.

The government and local administrations are slowly making the nation bicycle-friendly.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced on Tuesday that it will complete a 3,114 km bicycle path network by 2018. The path will be 3 meters wide, and only cyclists will be allowed to use it.

All 12 cities, provinces, and 80 districts will participate in this 1.25 trillion won ($956 million) project. It is one of the government`s so-called "Green New Deal" projects.

<**1>

The path will run throughout the country. Starting from Haengju Bridge over the Han River, it will pass Incheon west of Seoul, go down along the west coast to Mokpo in South Jeolla Province and run back up, passing Busan, Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province, Goseong in Gangwon Province, and finally back to the Haengju Bridge.

This path will be connected with others that are currently under construction by different local communities. Areas connected with other provinces or cities will feature a different theme.

The Administration Ministry is also pushing for a road development plan to create more space for bikes. Bicycle parking will be made available, and some roads will be smoothed out.

For these projects, the Administration Ministry plans investing 124.5 billion won every year, funded 70 percent from the national budget and 30 percent from local budgets.

"The bicycle road will accelerate development of each local community and make the use of green transportation more prevalent in our society," said Jeong Chang-seob, assistant secretary of the Administration Ministry.

"We expect that this project will produce 2,067 jobs every year until 2010, 8,268 in total," he added.

Some local communities have already joined in. Gyeonggi Province announced on Dec. 8 that it will construct a road exclusive for bicycles, connecting Suwon, Gyeonggi Province and Pyeongtaek Lake on the west coast. It will be 57 km long and 2 to 4 m wide.

<**2>

There is already a bicycle road along the Han River, which is 28 km long. When Gyeonggi Province finishes its construction of the road connected to the west coast and another 9 km road which will link that road with the one along the Han River, cyclists can enjoy 94 km of biking freedom.

To protect walkers, the bicycle roads along the Han River will be separated from the sidewalks.

Considering that 65 percent of the accidents in Han River Park since 2006 were bicycles bumping into pedestrians, Seoul city decided to construct separate promenades.

Changwon city in south Gyeongsang province launched the NUBIJA plan last October. NUBIJA is a public bicycle rental system. The name is an abbreviation for "Nearby Useful Bike, Interesting Joyful Attraction."

A month after its launch, more than 2,500 people have registered as members. More than 8,000 bikes have been rented.

"If this active participation continues, it will not be hard for the public bicycle system to grow," said Ha Seung-woo, policy aide of NUBIJA.

Daejeon city also started a public bicycle system last October, and is planning to increase the number of bicycles to 10,000. It will also encourage bikers to take out insurance for bike riding.

The city will complete the construction of seven bicycle roads which will be 68.7 km long and three additional bicycle roads along the stream.

The south district of Gwangju city in south Jeolla province is also planning on promoting bicycles. It established an act to encourage bicycle use in the city last October. Based on the act, it will spend 20 million won of its budget to make bicycle stands and 140 million won to amend the roads to be bicycle-friendly.

Bukchon Hanok Village, one of the most popular tourism spots in Seoul, will provide free rental bikes and tour guides in English and Japanese starting this February.

Jongno-gu announced last month that it will install a bicycle stand and a Bukchon-PUB tourist bureau, which will offer the tour guide services, next to Jaedong Elementary School in Bukchon.

"We are going to install many more convenient systems to increase local tourism," said Lee Hyeon-jeong, an official at Jongno-gu.

Some immediate changes were already spotted in Seoul last month.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism held a Seoul Bicycle Festival last month. More than 2,000 people gathered in Yeouido Park with their bikes on a chilly morning.

Starting from Yeouido, thousands of bikes went over Mapo bridge, passed Mapo and headed toward Gwanghwamun. Turning at Sejongno, the parade continued past Seoul Station, crossed the Han River again over Wonhyo bridge and finally returned to the starting point - all in two hours.

With the help of the police, two traffic lanes were used, and the bikers didn`t have to stop and wait at crosswalks.

Some unique bikes were spotted: a bike with a wheel half the regular size, a bike ridden while lying down, and a bike with a baby carrier tagging along.

At a corner of Yeouido Park, a flea market was opened. Participants could receive bicycle repair services at the service center, and exchange bike parts with other participants at the bartering marketplace.

"This festival aims to make citizens healthy and decrease the expense of fossil fuels by encouraging the use of bicycles in the community," said Park Byeong-jin, head of the Sports for All Division of the Culture Ministry.

"We are going to launch various projects so that bicycles can become a part of the citizens` everyday life."

The Culture Ministry plans to make the bike festival an annual event starting next year.

By Park Min-young



(claire@heraldm.com)