By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The BiciRio – Fórum Internacional da Mobilidade por Bicicleta – (International Forum of Mobility by Bike) event returned to Rio Janeiro on September 21st for its fourth edition to again promote sustainability through the use of bicycles as primary modes of transportation.
This event follows Rio’s recent Green Nation Fest 2014 and began on the same day as People’s Climate Marches took place throughout the world including on Rio’s Ipanema beach.
Realized by The City of Rio de Janeiro and the Department of the Environment (Secretaria de Meio Ambiente or SMAC), BiciRio is part of the national Semana do Trânsito (Transit Week).
Additionally BiciRio takes place as part of World Carfree Day, an event celebrated yearly by people around the world going without the use of a car for one day on or around September 22nd.
BiciRio began this year on Sunday, September 21st with a morning group bike ride at Aterro do Flamengo. That was followed on the 22nd, with a technical ride on the streets of Copacabana.
Additionally on the 22nd, the city of Rio officially launched a “Caderno de Engargos“, a document which outlines the city’s guidelines, preparations and standards for upcoming bike projects.
On Tuesday, September 23rd, during the third and final day of BiciRio, programming will include discussions by national and international experts about urban mobility and the use of bicycles and mass transit in Rio and cities around the world.
The discussions will take place in the Hotel Mirador Rio in Copacabana. The Zona Sul (South Zone) neighborhood was chosen for many BiciRio 2014 events due to its high number of cyclists and the approximately fourteen kilometers of new bike lanes and shared lanes opened in the area earlier this year.
For more infomation about the discussions and BiciRio, see the event’s official website here.
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