Cyclists Ride to Demand Rights in City

By Yekaterina Portnova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: July 4, 2012 (Issue # 1716)

ALEXANDER BELENKY / SPT Cyclists ride down Nevsky Prospekt on Sunday afternoon as part of an event to promote bikes as a mode of transport.

A community bike ride held Sunday attracted a record number of participants for the city and resulted in the writing of 662 letters to the city governor demanding the improvement of cycling infrastructure and rules in St. Petersburg.

The aim of the event, titled “Za Velogorod” (For a Bike-City), was to show the government and other citizens that bikes can be a safe and convenient way of traveling around the city.

Daria Tabachnikova, one of the co-organizers of the bike ride, said one of the key goals of the event was to make cyclists realize that they are part of a large group and that they want serious change.

“We want to show that the demand for the popularization of bikes truly exists in our society,” she said.

The route went from Tavrichesky garden to New Holland island, via Nevsky Prospekt for some of the distance. Faced with such large groups of cyclists, car drivers had little choice but to avoid them with care, and the event took place mostly without incident — although one girl couldn’t reach the start and broke her arm after riding into an unmarked manhole.

According to the organizers, more than 1,200 cyclists gathered in Tavrichesky garden for the start of the ride, and many more joined them en route. Participants included people of all ages, from infants strapped to their parents’ bikes to elegant elderly ladies, who had their own team called “Dreams on Wheels.”

“For one day, New Holland in the center of St. Petersburg was transformed into a real Holland with hundreds of bicycles parked near the railings along the canals,” said Tabachnikova.

“In fact, we faced some difficulties in connection with the new Russian law on protests, because now any mass gathering can be qualified as an unauthorized rally. We were afraid that at any moment, our event could be broken up, but in the end everything went well. ”

Upon arrival at New Holland, participants had the opportunity to sign postcards addressed to St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, asking him to improve the infrastructure for cyclists in the city. A total of 662 postcards were written and will be delivered to City Hall in the near future, organizers say.

“We want the official establishment to see that society isn’t indifferent to this issue,” said Tabachnikova.

“We truly need these cycle lanes and we truly believe that St. Petersburg could be a bike-friendly place.”

The city will see another large-scale bike ride take place later this month, organized by a different team of cycling enthusiasts. The Velonotte Pietrogrado, in which participants cycle around the Petrograd Side of the city, listening through headphones to lectures on architecture and history delivered by historians and other experts, was held in the city for the first time last summer and attracted thousands of cyclists. This year’s Velenotte, covering a 35-kilometer route from Palace Square to the former imperial estate of Peterhof, will be held on the night of July 14-15. Those who wish to take part can register at www.velonoch.org.