At a meeting with cyclist associations, the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, said that the use of bicycles reduces traffic congestion and carbon footprint in the city.

“Today the cyclists community is three times bigger. For the number of residents living in Tirana, the fact that more people are switching from cars to bikes is a very big step forward. I am not here to declare war on cars, but out of 800 thousand segments that are traversed by car per day in Tirana, as we have measured with GIZ colleagues, 400 thousand are distances less than 1 km. This distance can be easily crossed by bicycle, on foot, with a scooter or by public transport,” said Veliaj.

He said that the arguments that are sometimes brought up against bicycles are not based on facts.

“I face severe criticism whenever a new cycling lane is opened, they say: “Mayor, you have narrowed our spaces.” Let’s take “Zogu i Parë” Boulevard. Which way have we narrowed? That beautiful green tunnel was not passable for cars. It has become more usable for bicycles, but no one has narrowed the street. St. “Myslym Shyri” was all turned into a parking lot, you could not look at the shop windows anyway, because the cars were parked. So, we haven’t even narrowed it down, but it has brought benefits to the whole community. At Kavaja street, we still have an island in the middle, where cars could not pass anyway. On the “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard, parking was not allowed on both sides and the bicycle lane did not take up any space”, he said.

According to Veliaj, even for the drivers themselves, the number one ally is precisely the cyclist because it is one car less in Tirana.

The Mayor emphasized that another green space will be made available for cyclists in Farka Park.
He underlined that more bicycle lanes will be added to the streets of Tirana. “We will continue with the extension of bicycle lanes, moving from what is called a minimal network, to a network that extends to more roads. So far our strategy has been: build a road with bike lanes, show it’s being used, put up a ticker to tell drivers there are thousands of people who could be like you driving on the road, gain some ground in the public debate and then switch to another road. It seems to me that I am describing a war strategy, but in fact this is a battle with mentality”, said Veliaj.

According to him, early education, from kindergarten, of children to learn to ride a bicycle, is one more step forward in leading a healthy life.
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