A Distinctive Bicycling Destination

Before I moved to Dubai I did quite a bit of surfing around on the web, trying to find information about cycling in here. As I mentioned in the previous post, a lot of what I found wasn’t very helpful (or very constructive).

There were however several small glimmers of hope hidden within the doom and gloom. Explorer’s Dubai Complete Residents’ Guide (AKA, the bible, it seems like everyone has a copy) has this to say about cycling:

Bicycle

Cycling can be a very efficient way of commuting as it avoids a great deal of traffic and is a cheap mode of transport, however for most people in Dubai, the car rules, and bikes are used only by those on lower incomes. A lot of care is needed when cycling in the UAE as some drivers pay little attention to anything, even other cars, and much less cyclists. Also, in the hotter months, cycling is more arduous and it should be remembered that you won’t arrive anywhere fresh after pedalling in temperatures as high as 45ºC.

In the quieter areas, many of the roads are wide enough to accommodate cyclists as well as cars, and where there are footpaths, they are often wide and in good condition. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has decided to try to encourage cycling in the busy districts of Deira and Bur Dubai by adding dedicated lanes and parking areas for cyclists. There is even talk of a network of cycle lanes that would eventually be extended to other parts of the city.

OK, not too bad. It doesn’t really tout the upsides of cycling in Dubai – 8 months a year of beautiful weather, flat terrain, flying by traffic jams (I suppose that is the extent of the upside), but at least it’s not all doom and gloom. I agree with their point that the majority of commuter cyclists tend to be from lower income groups, but stereotyping cycling here like that won’t really help change the situation. It’s nice that they point out there are quieter areas to ride, but they almost seem to suggest you aren’t welcome on real roads.

The Explorer makes a vague reference to improved cycle infrastructure in the future. Well, guess what? Dubai has commissioned and is perhaps in the process of implementing a Bicycle Master Plan (BMP)! Unfortunately, I could only find oblique references to the plan prior to arriving. I ascertained that the plan was undertaken, but I couldn’t find a copy of it anywhere or figure out if it was ever going to be implemented. It was like the BMP was some sort of state secret.

I sent an email requesting information about the plan from the consultants who undertook the work – Alta Planning + Design out of Portland Oregon. I haven’t yet heard back from them, or even an acknowledgement that my email was received. There is absolutely no mention of the BMP on the RTA website www.rta.ae/, which isn’t really a huge surprise as finding useful information on their site is about as likely as spotting Sasquatch. Lucky for me though, I have managed to locate a copy of an executive summary of the plan through my network of uber-secret sources.

As you can see from the front cover, the planners at Alta (and by default the RTA) want Dubai to become, “A distinctive bicycling destination.” Personally, I would settle for, “A reasonably affable cycling locale,” but why not shoot for the moon! I find the cover art for the BMP rather apropos; in Dubai you either have lower income cyclists on crappy bikes (NB, that bike rack is the only official one in the entire city), or roadies on $6,000 Serottas. If they update the plan they should put a picture of me in the middle – the lone middle class bike commuter (LMCBC). Sure, LMCBC is a bit of a mouthful and doesn’t have quite the ring of the ‘Lone Ranger’, but I really do enjoy riding in my eye mask and chaps.

Greedily delving into the plan for Dubai’s cycling future, I read through the 25 page document (I still have yet to get my hands on the full report; my team of crack operatives operatives are working on it). The BMP is full of great ideas, as one would expect from a firm the likes of Alta. If a raucous crowd were to give you a précis of the executive summary it might go something like:

Bullhorn Guy: What do we want?
Crowd: bicycle infrastructure, safety
education, promotional programs, and bicycle friendly policy changes!!
Bullhorn Guy: When do we want it?
Crowd: Rolled out in stages over the
next 10 years!

Whether or not Dubai will go ahead and implement the changes outlined, or embrace cycling as a legitimate form of transport is yet to be seen. The report was issued in January of 2008, and calls for 8 high priority stage 1 demonstration projects to be completed within 12 months – i.e. now (with further stages rolled out over the next 10 years for a total of 1351 km of cycle routes). The stage 1 projects can basically be broken down into three catagories:

-Extension of Jumeirah Beach Road path to Dhiyafa Road and Mankhool Road
-Creek loop
-Connector routes for getting the roadies out to their rides in Nad Al Sheeba

I haven’t yet done a detailed reconnaissance of all the proposed routes, but my travels around town have taken me through two of the three areas (haven’t been out to Nad Al Sheba yet), and I have yet to see any shovels in the ground.

It seems there might be a light at the end of the tunnel though. In January, Gulf News let us know all about a bicycling project that sounds very similar to our dear master plan, minus the Nad Al Sheba bit.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Nation/Leisure/10278606.html

The article is a little confusing as it starts out talking about a cycle plan, then launches into a description of plans for pedestrian bridges. If one reads a bit further down though, we get our required info straight from the camel’s mouth:

"We will seek to devise a comprehensive plan for the development of the cycling network that will include laying cycling tracks, providing the requisite facilities and framing guidelines and legislations for the use of bicycles," said the official.

Which sounds oddly like they haven’t started forming the BMP yet, despite the paper copy of it sitting here on my desk. If you didn’t know the RTA had already commissioned one of the leading planning consultancies to devise a plan, you may think they are going off half cocked, building bike lanes willy nilly.

The heartening bit is in the readers’ comments section. There was nary a negative comment about the proposed cycle routes. My favourite comment was:

At last my dream of cycling will come true... This is better late than
never.From A ReaderDubai,UAE

Here here ‘A Reader’! Though only a small sample of the overall population, this shows that there is a quite a latent demand for cycling in the city. This is backed up by a slightly more recent Gulf News article which quizzed people about their thoughts on cycling:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/02/01/10280845.html

In a recent Gulf News poll, 33 per cent of respondents said they would like to cycle to work, 29 per cent said there are not enough tracks, 24 per cent said they would never consider it, and the remaining 15 per cent said they love their car too much and would never give it up.

33% of the population wants to cycle to work! That would be rather amazing, as NY is struggling to get about a 2% share of commuting trips. Again, probably a small sample group, but really shows that there is a demand out there.