Life is too short for traffic.

2008

Bike Blessing - January 5th

Protection in traffic is something that the bicicletada always looked for, that's why we went to ask the Capuchinhos to bless our bikes.

Traffic accidents are one of the main causes of death in Brazil and the world. The bicycle doesn't offer many threats nevertheless it's subject to traffic dangers.

Besides, by blessing our bikes we try to show that they are also legitimate vehicles worth of respect and attention.

See also:
Pictures

On the news:
Capuchinhos bless vehicles in Curitiba (in portuguese)
Blessing on two and four wheels (in portuguese)

2007

2nd IPPUC Meeting - December 20th

The meeting was basically a presentation of intentions. Nothing was decided but we played our role appropriately.

There will be new meetings, probably, until April. Our report needs to be reviewed and expanded. The Cycle Network Analysis must be finished. We also mentioned the inactive bike-parkings. Fernando Rosenbaum's critics review is pretty good.

The meeting was held without much formalities and there weren't many representatives of syndicates, associations or organizations. There was the IPPUC team, responsible for the PlanMob development and there were also:

* Airton - Public Transportarion Syndicate
He presented an extensive research about the services offered by the Transport Integrated Network (RIT), the level of user satisfaction, his profile, difficulties etc ...
He pointed out the main problems found: overcrowding, lack of security, and the fall of the buses average speed because of the traffic congestions.

He suggested a few forms of reducing the ticket prices, also asked for more dedicated bus-lanes and he didn't seem worried about losing passengers if the cycle network was boosted.
Actually, if there were less cars on the streets, the buses would gain a lot of space. This improvement on the services would atract more users, including cyclists that couldn't ride bikes on a specific day.

* Ricardo Hartmann, Luis Patricio and Antônio Miranda - Bicicletada Curitiba
After Airton's presentation, the cyclists point of view was presented. Our main concern was to show how weak and inappropriate our Cycle Network is. Miranda as an architect, urbanist and consultant dedicated to projects concerning cycle infrastructure and author of the Brazilian Reference Book of Cycle-Planning pointed out a few suggestions on how to improve the Cycle Network in Curitiba.

* Public Ministry representative
He just demanded that the legislation for special need people be observed.

A CD-ROM with the preliminary proposition was distributed among the participants and the meeting was concluded.

Live parking - December 8th

That's what we did this saturday. We found a vacant parking space in front of Mercadorama Supermarket (Mariano Torres Street with XV de Novembro Street) and we did a picnic.

It was fun ! A lot of talking, flyers distribution and curious looks. The TVEducativa was there to interview us and our special guest, Mona Caron.

See the pictures

1st IPPUC Meeting - December 5th

It took place at the IPPUC building. A lot of people from different segments were present: accessibility group, taxists, public transport companies, cargo transportation drivers, cyclists etc...
It lasted more than four hours, but it was merely expositive. A presentation for each section of the PlanMob:

1) Comercial and Public Transportation
2) Cargo Transportation
3) Accessibility
4) Circulation and Traffic System

The next meeting will present a preliminary proposal and the IPPUC architects will listen to the involved groups.
The IPPUC requested that any suggestion or critic about their proposal to be written.

A CD-ROM was distributed with all the research and preliminary decisions about all the plans, including the PlanMob.

UCB Foundation- November 24th

There were approximately 80 participants and 37 founding members.

Several brazilian groups and a few foreign ones were there, some of them are: Viaciclo, Transporte Ativo, MTB-BH, Rodas da Paz, ABC, Bikecicloverde, Associação dos Ciclistas de São Vicente, ANTP, I-CE, Fietsersbond, Bicicleta Livre, Bicicletada SP, FECIERJ entre outras.

See more pictures:
Gathering before the group ride  Statute signing  During the ride  During the ride 2  During the ride 3  End of meeting