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In this moment of alarm, close to a “new normal”, Murcia en Bici wants to take the opportunity for the de-escalation to take us to a point not only of rethinking, but also allowing us to act on our habits and thus improve the environment In which we live We are making a great effort with social isolation, which has produced an environmental benefit in the air we breathe in our cities, with a decrease in air pollution of 46% in Murcia, since the beginning of the confinement, according to a report by Ecologists in Action.

This benefit must continue and we must make the effort to change our habitual movements towards more active and sustainable ways.

Active, because the health benefit for the individual generates a collective health promotion that reinforces our health system.

And sustainable, because the dimensions of a private motor vehicle limit the space that people must have in cities.

Furthermore, air pollution causes approximately 10,000 deaths a year in Spain,according to the Carlos III Health Institute.Now is the time.

It is not a change of time, but a time of change.

The action of citizens and the good work of public administration is essential, especially in areas such as mobility, urban planning, health and education.

We hope that Murcia will follow in the footsteps of cities such as Pamplona, ??Granada or Barcelona, ??where measures are already being taken in this regard.

That is why we are writing this letter to both the mayor of the city, José Ballesta, and the Department of Sustainable Mobility, hoping that they will attend to the proposals that we present below and call the Bicycle Observatory urgently.

We remind Rebeca Pérez, president of the Observatory and councilor for Sustainable Mobility, that this body has not met since November 2018 and that, according to its own regulations, it should meet 3 times each year.Murcia en Bici requests the urgent call of the Bicycle Observatory or an interview with the councilor for Sustainable Mobility to specify the following measures:1- Public bicycle rental system.

We celebrate the decision to reopen the public bicycle rental system in bench "Very bike", but we propose the availability of bicycles from the previous long-term rental system, especially for essential workers who are or have been in the front line facing the pandemic.

We believe it would be the best destination for these bicycles, especially knowing that two years ago at the Observatory we were asked what to do with them.

Now they have the answer.2 - Expansion of pedestrian areas limiting or restricting the space for the private motor vehicle .

The provision of the Gran Vía for recreational use on Sundays seems to us a testimonial fact.

The recovery of public space by citizens in general and childhood in particular has to be a reality.

We propose the analysis of the public road of the entire municipality of Murcia and that from the District and Municipal Boards, in coordination with the Department of Mobility, it is decided in which spaces or areas you can limit, or even restrict, vehicle access to engine.3 - By bike to work .

We urge the Murcia City Council to draw up sustainable mobility plans for work, especially to connect the main concentration centers for workers (Polígono Industrial Oeste, Hospital de La Arrixaca) with the capital or nearby districts.

The choice of a vehicle that is environmentally sustainable and responsible for individual and collective health should be encouraged.4 - By bike to school - bicycles .

Despite the advances, such as the learning workshops carried out by schoolchildren, a deepening and real practices in traffic of circulation and accompaniment are necessary.

The lack of school mobility plans on foot or by bicycle to the educational center that promote the autonomy and development of the child is also evident.5 - Infrastructure and cycling corridors.

During the first semester of 2019, numerous bike lanes were set up from the municipal council, so many and so fast that the Network of Cities for Bicycle awarded them precisely the “Sprinter” award.

Unfortunately, since then the City Council has not been able to maintain that name, nor has it won any other “race”.

A cycling network must be consistent, direct, safe, accessible and comfortable.

Aspects that must be analyzed over the existing ones and that must be carried out at the moment over those planned provisionally with simple horizontal signage and low cost, as well as cyclists to generate healthy habits.

We note that half of the axes of the 2017-2019 plan, and previous ones, have not been executed.If in this de-escalation that we are beginning we want to go towards a new normality in which we do not see as natural the traffic jams and the pollution generated by the private motor vehicle, that provisional signaling will have to be changed later by a definitive one.

Source: Murcia en Bici