The bicycle is almost an ideal means for moving about a city during the summer months. There are no traffic jams for the two-wheeled vehicles, while cycling to and from work provides excellent exercise - on par with going to a fitness club. Incidentally, it's inaccurate to think that cycling only develops leg muscles: a cyclist must use all of hismuscles to ride. And what is better, taking the stifling metro train or dashing along the beautiful streets quick as the wind? It would seem that the answer is obvious. Why then do most Muscovites only cycle through a park during the evening, if at all? The answer to this question, alas, lies on the surface.

A Death-Defying Stunt 

The majority of those who have ever tried cycling in Moscow shudder at the thought afterward: "Never again!" And they never advise children to attempt it. Cycling in our city can be a horrible experience. The problem is that because there are no cycling lanes, cyclists don't have much of a choice - either ride on the sidewalk, or share the road with the vehicles. Although traffic rules prescribe the second option, the majority of cyclists choose the first as the safest. This, however, is not only against the law, but also involves two serious problems.

First, the uneasy relationship between cycling enthusiasts and pedestrians: whoever ventures to cycle along the sidewalk of the Garden Ring during rush hour is bound to get an earful. Second, in quite a few places in the city there are no sidewalks at all. To get from one part of Moscow to another, cyclists often have to go down tunnels or up overpasses, together with the cars. This is an extremely stressful experience. For example, the tunnel under Kosygin Street, which leads from central Moscow to Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Hills, is a stretch where motorists as a general rule drive at a speed of at least 60 kph. Furthermore, there is a solid concrete wall on the right, so if a car passes a cyclist on the left, one needs nerves of steel not to swerve one way or the other: any such move would be fatal.

On other roads in the Russian capital, heavy traffic also turns any cyclist into a potential suicide. And drivers also become nervous when they see a cyclist: Any careless maneuver near a bicycle or scooter can land the driver in the dock. So a careful motorist will always give a cyclist a wide berth.

The End of Cycling
Free-for-All?

This summer, the situation on the Moscow roads has become even more complex and less predictable. The number of cars, bicycles and scooters has visibly increased - especially the scooters. Both de jure (according to the traffic code, scooters with engine capacity not exceeding 50 cc are classified as ‘mechanical transport facilities') and de facto, the scooter is a bicycle minus the pedals. Many opt for the scooter: with current fume concentrations in Moscow, it is not very good for a person's health to ride along city avenues for very long, which is exactly what cyclists do. As for proneness to injury, scooter riders and cyclists are equally exposed and vulnerable.

The Moscow city authorities and the State Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate (GIBDD) acknowledged the seriousness of the "two-wheeled" problem a few years ago. But for some reason, officials - from Mayor Yury Luzhkov to road traffic safety experts - believe that the principal cause of the high accident and injury rates among bicycle and scooter riders is not the lack of cycle infrastructure, but their uncontrolled use. Therefore, to reduce the number of "two-wheeled" road accidents, they propose using a provision in the Traffic Code that allows local authorities to introduce registration and licensing for cyclists.

Needless to say, cyclists and scooter riders regard these initiatives as an encroachment on their freedom. "People have always bought motorized scooters and mopeds to be independent of traffic rules, and to have complete freedom of movement," said Dmitry Makurin, a member of the Moscow Scooter Club Organizing Committee.

The advocates of administrative regulation cite European experience: for example, in the UK, a cyclist has to pass a riding skills test and obtain a license plate. 

Yet before citing the strict UK regulations, perhaps city authorities should first make cycling in Moscow as safe as it is elsewhere in Europe. To this end, it is above all necessary to build cycling lanes and bicycle parking facilities, as well as give cyclists right of way on the roads. Studies show improved safety for motorists when bike lanes exist, because motorists passing cyclists when no bike lane exists veer farther left into the next traffic lane. This rule exists in the majority of European cities, especially in Northern Europe. The results are there for everyone to see: the traffic congestion problem is eased, if not resolved; parking facilities for thousands of bicycles at historical town centers in the Old World are fairly compact; and "two wheel" priorities allow the authorities not to build expensive [and not always effective] giant on-ramps and off-ramps.

At one time, such a policy also worked in the Soviet Union: Lithuanian Siauliai and academic township in the Moscow region, surrounding but not including the city of Moscow, primarily Dubna (about 120 km to the north of the capital), became bicycle havens. The question, of course, is how this strategy, which is quite effective in small towns, would work in such a megalopolis as Moscow. There is not much cause for painting an idyllic picture here, but peaceful coexistence between cyclists and motorists is quite feasible: consider Amsterdam and some other European capitals.

In Moscow, however, cyclists and scooterists find themselves in a less than enviable position. Nevertheless, several times a year, Muscovites have an opportunity to see that bicycles can harmoniously blend into a large city: every once in a while mass cycling marathons, called Kriticheskaya massa (Critical Mass), are held in the capital (for information on upcoming events, visit http://massa.org.ru). Maybe we will be lucky, and one day it will be possible to move about Moscow with just a push of the pedals. But cyclists will need a protective helmet and an air purifying respirator since cars are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.  

By Anton Razmakhnin