Bogotá, Colombia, a city with 10 million residents, records nearly 900,000 daily bicycle trips, making it Latin America's leading cycling city. Despite this, women constituted only 28% of these trips in 2023, according to the city's latest mobility survey.
City officials have set a goal to achieve gender parity in cycling by 2039, aiming for a 50-50 split from the current nearly 30-70 ratio. Claudia Díaz, Bogotá's secretary of mobility, stated that increasing cycling trips, particularly among women, offers environmental benefits and supports the capital's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Research conducted as part of a 2021 cycling public policy, the first of its kind in Colombia to incorporate a gender perspective, identified several barriers for women. These include fears of theft or assault (60% of women surveyed), concerns about being hit by a vehicle (40%), and never having learned to ride a bicycle (nearly one-third).
To address these issues, Bogotá is expanding its network of protected bike lanes, which currently spans 425 miles (683.9km). The city is also repairing existing lanes, installing lighting, improving connectivity, and increasing police patrols. Additionally, the city's Bike School teaches approximately 40,000 residents to cycle annually, with about 80% of participants being women.