Can bicycle infrastructure become an important topic in the upcoming local elections? Even if it won't be the main topic in the face of the problems of Polish cities, it is worth introducing it into the public debate. In Katowice, this topic was taken up by Robert Konieczny.
The bicycle should be used to travel around the city easier and faster than by car. Healthier by the way," Robert Konieczny (KWK Promes) wrote in his social media.
On June 26 this year, the architect published a Facebook post describing how difficult it is to get around downtown Katowice by bicycle. Accompanying the appeal for developing bicycle infrastructure is a video that shows what an affliction it is for Katowice cyclists to get around the city. In the video, we see the biggest problem with cycling in Katowice, or just in Polish cities — the lack of connections between bicycle paths, the lack of proper infrastructure or the failure to adapt one-way streets to two-way bicycle traffic, which we also know from Krakow. The architect concludes his post by asking the mayor of Katowice for a joint ride around the city.
Wiktor: Where did you get the idea for such a fast and action?
Robert Konieczny: I ride my bike to work very often, it is a stretch of about 3, 4 kilometers. The paths in the downtown area end after a few hundred meters — so that the further route cyclists have to travel a little on the sidewalk and a little on the road. The day I published this post, I was really in a hurry to get to a meeting — I thought at the time, what is the bike in the city actually for? After all, it's not just for recreation, as most people think, but a normal means of transportation. It's about getting around quickly, safely and comfortably.
Wiktor: Do you think the ride around the city with President Krupa will be successful? Will it be an opportunity to promote road infrastructure issues?
Robert: You have to understand how politicians think. If something doesn't translate into future electoral success, nothing will. In this post I praise what has happened in Katowice over the past few years, bike paths are plentiful on the outskirts, recreation is flourishing. However, the infrastructure in the center is lacking. If the mayor can see the potential in this area, he can work a lot of it to his advantage.
If we persuade more people to record their rides through Katowice and let it go online, I hope our authorities will notice the problem and something will change.
The paths are taken care of by road specialists. What is missing in this planning is people with vision. Where regulations allow, they make these paths, and where regulations don't allow, they don't make them. That's why some of them start no one knows where and no one knows where they end. No one is thinking about how to organize it to make life better for cyclists. Katowice in the downtown area is introducing paid parking, so there must be some alternative to car transportation.
The direction of the bicycle, are we able to bring it into the discussion?
The current political discussion is most heated by the parliamentary elections that will take place this fall. A few months after them, we are facing local elections, which in many places in Poland may lead to political reshuffling, as well as a change in local emphasis.
If we want to create conditions for the development of bicycle infrastructure that will allow us to move freely around the city, not only for recreation, but also for everyday life, it is necessary to promote the spread of bicycle infrastructure. It is public agitation in the form of videos showing how difficult it is to get to many places by bicycle, inviting officials and mayors to take two-wheeled trips around the city, or acting in civic budgets and forming social committees that can become a way to make it easier to get around our cities by bicycle.
