Monday, February 11, 2019, was a day that remains in the history of the city of Faro. On this day, the municipal executive launched shared smooth mobility in the form of scooters, about 75 to start. The shared bicycles will go to public tender and are expected to arrive by the end of the year.
This shared mobility is desirable in a context of sustainable development and, at first sight, places Faro in a list of vanguard cities. However, this measure needs to be better contextualized.
The Mobility and Transport Plan of Faro (PMT), approved by the Municipal Assembly on the 26th of November, is a strategic document developed over more than four years by an external company specialized in mobility planning and management and which received contributions from various sectors of the Faro society and entities nationals.
The plan was financed with taxpayers' funds and already contemplated this measure: “Proposal 15 – Implement a bicycle sharing system in key points of the city”, medium and long-term execution schedule (Volume II – Phase III – PMT) .
In this proposal 15, however, it can also be read that “the bicycle sharing system should be implemented soon after the execution of the first phase of the city's cycle path network”.
There is no doubt here that this sharing system must emerge after the minimum safety conditions for the use of these means and for the healthy coexistence of the various means of transport are met. These would be the steps corresponding to proposal 12, whose execution schedule is in the short, medium and long term.
In this way, the municipal executive starts the execution of his plan in the reverse order.
The disorder!
It must be stressed that it is not the measure itself that is at stake, but the way in which it is being implemented.
Public time and money was spent on designing a well-founded and structured plan, with a calendar of concrete implementation actions, in order to allow success in the fulfillment and objectives to be achieved, and then opt to ignore the planning order and to implement the measures contained in it in a loose and anarchic way.
Skipping a set of planning steps can make the difference between the success or failure of the implemented measures.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The mayor from Farense stated that we cannot always be waiting for ideal conditions, otherwise, nothing is ever done and that with the implementation of these systems in the city, new unforeseen problems will arise so far.
Although these statements are valid, the plans serve exactly to minimize adverse scenarios, foreseeing them and trying to solve them beforehand. In short, planning serves to try to create situations that are closest to ideal and thus maximize the potential of each measure that is implemented.
“The exercise of planning is, perhaps, the most sustainable one that exists, regardless of the subject itself. This is what manages to characterize the problem, diagnose, and, in view of these, find trends, strategies, which have to do with the vision and mission, the creation of scenarios of proposals to anticipate the future" – Paula Teles , Smart Cities, architect responsible for the PMT of Faro.
In truth, these systems do not bring new problems to the municipality.
The growing use of the bicycle in the last three years, as a daily means of transport for several citizens, has raised many of the questions that will now be accentuated with this one-off implementation of the shared system of electric bicycles in the city.
Let's see: scooters are bicycles equivalent to bicycles, according to Portuguese law and the Highway Code in force, which is why they can only travel on highways or bicycle paths, and it is strictly forbidden to travel on the sidewalk (except if you are under 10 years old and/or in case of authorization of local regulation with respective signage) – article 17, Highway Code.
Taking into account the above and also:
– the current physical state of the roads in the city of Faro – city center composed of uneven cobblestones due to lack of maintenance; remaining area with asphalt in poor condition (holes, uneven urban sanitation covers, among others); the almost inexistence of bicycle lanes in the urban perimeter, and the deterioration of the few existing ones.
– that traffic calming measures were not implemented, for example, with the introduction of urban perimeters for low-speed motor traffic (30 km/h zones), and simultaneous introduction of traffic signs, measures that are also included in the PMT as implementing measures to short term
It is thus concluded that the (almost) perfect conditions are far from existing in the municipality, but they were identified, studied and planned according to an execution order, but by choice of the Municipal Executive they were not ensured.
The costs of using these shared bicycles do not encourage frequent and continued use by citizens, but only occasional use, which does not promote changes in travel habits, in order to implement a new mobility paradigm, which requires an effective reduction in daily use of the car.
And, once again, it does not meet the PMT guidelines, which explicitly suggest that "it is essential that they be made available to city residents at symbolic prices (annual payment is recommended)" (Proposal 15 - Volume II – Phase III – PMT).
The single introduction of scooters will not “steal” the place of the car, as mentioned in the presentation, with the objective of discouraging the use of the automobile.
This objective is achieved by making way for cycle paths that remove some space for the use of the car and provide security for users of smooth means of travel, as explained and programmed in the PMT.
Shouldn't the Municipality have given priority to the orderly, simultaneous and/or sequential execution of the proposals contained in the PMT, showing respect and concern for safeguarding the basic conditions that many of its citizens who use daily bicycles have been waiting for?
In this way, it would simultaneously demonstrate respect and concern for pedestrians and motorists, allowing and promoting order over chaos.
We refer both to road structures and support equipment, which are essential for the correct and legal parking of vehicles in the city.
The only existing equipment was placed in 2009, and 10 years later - requested and suggested by citizens for the placement of more and better ones and their implementation in the PMT contemplated - there has been no placement so far of more parking structures (Proposal 13, Volume II – Phase III – PMT).
This situation will be happily mitigated according to the winning citizen proposal in the recent Participatory Budget of the Parish Union of Faro, so that new and long-awaited parking spots for bicycles are acquired and placed in various points of the parishes covered, until the summer.
All of the above long-identified problems are in Faro, across the country and around the world, with the introduction of unplanned scooters, as well as their identified and planned solutions.
The first question remains: Is this really the first step?
Make yourself comply with the PMT!
Authors: "Faro to Pedal"
Citizen movement - www.facebook.com/faropedal
The movement "Faro Pedalar” is mentored by Humberto Glória, engineer and daily bicycle user, Joana Magalhães, doctor and daily bicycle user, Joana Cabrita Martins, businesswoman and daily bicycle user, and Ricardo Martins, engineer and daily user of electric scooter, all Farenses.
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