Cebu bikers: Help save the earth with bike lanes please

How does a shared bike lane in Cebu City sound to you?

If the bikers’ dreams were to come true in the near future, Cebu City would have cleaner air and less traffic, they said.

“I guess it’s time for our city to enact the ordinance for the creation of shared bike lanes. In addition, our city administrator (Nigel Paul Villarete) announced that we have to designate shared bike lanes within this year because these bikers have been wanting it,” said Nida Cabrera, head of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO).

She added that if bike lanes were to be finally implemented, the move would reduce the volume of vehicles and address Metro Cebu’s traffic congestion.

Cabrera was elated to see hundreds of biking enthusiasts flock to Plaza Independencia during the city’s Earth Hour 2018 on March 24, a Saturday, where lights were switched off for an hour from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

It was a gesture symbolizing Cebu City’s commitment to join more than 7,000 cities and towns across 187 countries and territories in the worldwide movement to save the environment.

At exactly 8:30 p.m., Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Cabrera led the ceremonies by switching off the lights at Plaza Independencia.

Shortly after the park was plunged into darkness and candles were formed to depict Earth Hour’s 60+ icon were lit, around 5,000 bikers, some of them showcasing bamboo-made bikes and vintage bicycles, raced towards the nearby M.J. Cuenco Avenue to begin their ride.

The Bicycle Night Ride was one of the highlights of Earth Hour 2018 organized by the Cebu City Government, Habagat Cebu and several non-government organizations including Five Pieces Daily Habit and Eco-Tabang, which donated 20 solar-powered streetlamps to the city’s mountain barangays.

Since 2010, when Cebu City first joined Earth Hour, bikers from different parts of the city had a message to convey: for local governments in Metro Cebu to put up a shared bike lane not only to save the environment by reducing air pollution; but also to encourage young people to appreciate biking as a sports and a hobby.

That Saturday, the cyclists pedaled their way through M.J. Cuenco Avenue, S. Osmena Boulevard, and Legaspi Street.

Cycling enthusiast Allen Escadro, 57, brought his entire family — his two children and three grandchildren — with him.

Escadro’s unicycle, made out of metal scraps he bought from junk shops to save on cost, was far from typical with its huge front wheel measuring more than one meter in diameter.

The unique vehicle was quite an attraction that night at Plaza Independencia, as it caught the attention of people within the vicinity.

Escadro, a resident of Barangay Talamban, said his love for bikes started as a kid in the 60’s when not too many people had cars.

As he watched his father go to work on his bike each day, he picked up interest in biking as well.

“Gikan sa pag bike-bike lang, nakakat-on na sad ko unsaon paghimo og bike (From riding bicycles, I later learned how to make bikes),” said Escadro, who is also a mechanic.

But the bikes he built  are not for sale.

“Dili nako sila ibaligya kay para makakita sad ang akong mga apo, ug ma appreciate sad nila ning mga bikes ( I don’t sell my bikes so that my grandchildren will get to see and appreciate them),” he said.

Moreover, he wants his grandchildren to see his passion for bicycles so that they will learn to love it, too.

Aside from the unicycle, Escadro also brought three more of his creations to Earth Hour — a hybrid skateboard with a bicycle, a three-wheel cycle and a kid’s bike complete with training wheels that he made specially for his grandchildren.

There would have been five bikes but Escadro donated his other unicycle to the cycling museum in Manila.

With his unicycle, Escadro joined other cyclists around the streets of downtown Cebu during the Earth Hour celebration to push for bike-friendly streets in Cebu City.

Having bike lanes can lessen traffic. One can also exercise while helping the environment, he said.

Earth Hour 2018 generated a total power demand drop of 2.695 megawatts in Metro Cebu, according to data obtained from the Visayan Electric Company (Veco).

The demand drop covered the cities of Cebu,  Mandaue, Talisay, and Naga and the towns of Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla, and San Fernando.