tourism. In the following years, the number of cyclists in the streets of Sarajevo also increased, and several bike shops have been opened. This development marked the start of the bicycle economy in Sarajevo. At the same time, citizens started notic- ing the lack of bicycle infrastructure and the underdevelopment of proper bicycle facilities. They demanded substantial construction in order to provide conditions for organizing this type of transport. As a result, Giro di Sarajevo, Sarajevo’s first civil soci- ety for the promotion and advocacy of urban cycling, was established in 2008 by a group of bicycle enthusi- asts who wanted to make a change and contribute by putting pressure on local government and proposing ideas on enhancing bicycle commut- ing in the city.
CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE IN THE BICYCLE FACILITIES DEVELOPMENT Later that same year, a mass pro- test cyclist ride was held in which almost 600 cyclists blocked traf- fic in the city’s main streets and demanded local authorities address the non-existence of bicycle facili- ties by devoting urgent attention to it with participation from the public. In the years that followed the event became a favorite September tradi- tion of Sarajevo’s cyclist community As the organization acquired recognition, the local govern- ment started to pay more atten- tion to cyclists as a growing trend, but still without making decisive moves to meeting their needs in order to acommodate urban cycling and reap its benefits. The next year Giro organized another event that became traditional, Giro Bambino, where the youngest Sarajevans were taught cycling safety on a bicycle rid- ing range on Wilson’s Promenade, next to the Miljacka River. Soon, with the push from the non-government sector, the first short sections of
40
bicycle-pedestrian paths were built in 2010 and different levels of local government started to invest public money in studies and design docu- mentation, but still without in-depth analysis or conducting polls among the cyclist population and bike shops and without quality dialogue with organizations who represent them. The ciivil society sector continued
gaining momentum. Professionals from Giro started proposing design solutions for bicycle facilities. First in 2012 for the very first 3 km long bicycle lane in Wilson’s Promenade which garnered substantial media coverage and public attention, but no support from the city or the local offi- cials. The following year, on Giro’s proposal, the first professionally designed bicycle parking lot with a capacity for 20 bikes was built in front of the BBI Center, the most impor- tant shopping mall in the city centre. The mall owners alotted the land and Center Municipality financed the building of the parking. This was the first introduction of the ‘staple’ racks in Sarajevo and was the first cooper- ation of private, non-governmet sec- tor and local government in bicycle facilities development. This admittedly small but impor-
tant step later led to the setting up of several other bicycle parking lots
at attractive locations in downtown that were also proposed by Giro di Sarajevo asociates and financed by the local government, the Center and Old Town municipalities. Further, the organisation expanded its work by giving a design proposal for the first bike shelter that was built in May 2016 in the front yard of Sarajevo’s Third Gymnasium. Soon after, a private inves-
tor, Dukat, a major milk company, decided to invest in building bike shelters in other cities in Bosnia, in a public-private partnership with Giro. With their invesment, improved design by Giro’s engineers and with the help of the local community and local cycling activists, the bike shelters were built in Mostar, Banja Luka, Tuzla and Biha´
c with strong
prospects of continuing the project in the future in other cities.
BUILDING BICYCLE PATHS IN SARAJEVO Meanwhile, starting in 2014 the City Council and County of Sarajevo Road Authority started building the first kilometers of bicyle paths on the territory of Novi Grad, Ilidza and Novo Sarajevo municipalities. Paths were usally built on the the wide boulevards where they were easily integrated into the walkways or as a recovery of previous bicycle paths from the Yugoslav period. In only two years, 10 km of bike paths were recovered and built. Likewise in every country without
A cyclist traverses Skenderija Bridge
thinkingcities.com
experience in designing and building bicycle infrastructure and without proper strategy for its development, these paths suffered from many technical deficiencies such as the inability to create a direct and coher- ent bike path network between dif- ferent municipalities or the omission of denivelation on bicycle-pedestrian paths where this method of traffic segregation could have been used in order to physically separate cyclists and pedestrians.
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