Bicycle lanes on cards for Joburg

Cape Town - The City of Johannesburg is considering whether to support the safe use of bicycles on public roads, a report said on Friday. 

Business Day reported that Tshwane and Rustenburg had used funds from the Treasury's public transport infrastructure and systems grant for cycling infrastructure. 

"The city has developed a cycling network of routes for Johannesburg and Critical Mass has done a similar thing. We are going to look at the commonalities ... and get to a point where we can all agree on cycling routes," mayoral committee member Rehana Moosajee told the publication. 

The report described Critical Mass as a global movement that raises awareness of cycling as an alternative to "motorised transport and the need for cycling infrastructure". 

Moosajee said cycling infrastructure on a larger scale was a long way off, but erecting signage along cycling routes to indicate that it was safe, was crucial to building a culture of cycling in the city. 

"If we build cycling lanes, we have to be sure that people feel sufficiently safe while they are using them," Moosajee was quoted as saying. 

A highly anticipated pilot project for a bicycle and pedestrian programme in Soweto was delayed after approval for the R16m project hit crosswinds.