Transmilenio and cycling policy: the inspiring story of Bogota

The TransMilenio (a bus system with its own exclusive right-of-way) is an unprecedented and rather improbable innovation which has involved both city dwellers and urban transport professionals industry institutions (public and private) and academic circles and has thus become a great collective and civic affair. The city''s cycling policies also represent a strong break with the past They have not hesitated to convert corridors reserved for highways into a quality green network that includes bicycle lanes or to block the main roads for the benefit of a real Sunday event which the ciclovias have become as bearers of a new urban culture. The efficiency of these policies appears to be very high in various respects: high ratio between the collective financial means allocated and the societal benefits; direct or indirect interest of all social categories; benefits on the quality of urban life; land and real estate gains; new urbanity; support for the development of a new professional know-how.