Bicycle in the Philippines?

[JJReyes]

Cities like Cuenca and Quito, Ecuador turn over their main street during weekends to cyclists and pedestrians.  The circuit is more or less circular.  Barricades are erected.  Volunteers enforce the vehicle restriction.  Children love it.  Makati streets are very quiet on weekends.  Maybe someday a civic group will organize something similar.

[Mike J]

Give this a read and see if it helps you make a decision?  

Note to forum members and mods.  Article is quite lengthy with lots of photos so article text has not been posted.

https://my-best.ph/16248

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Mike J

[RBM]

11 hours ago, Viking said:

That's a good suggestion when cycling as exercise.

I just want it to go around the neighborhood, maybe a couple of kilometers from our house.

I see no issue from what you have said. Just be careful for cars coming out of driveways and for me I would fit a mirror. Also as others say, stay of highways.

[RBM]

11 hours ago, Viking said:

That's a good suggestion when cycling as exercise.

I just want it to go around the neighborhood, maybe a couple of kilometers from our house.

I see no issue from what you have said. Just be careful for cars coming out of driveways and for me I would fit a mirror. Also as others say, stay of highways.

[Viking]

8 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Here, where I live in Canada, LOADS of adults ride bicycles.  Or they call them that.  Yet I haven't seen any adult riding a conventional bike in years.  They all ride those electric assist bikes and go as fast as cars in city traffic.  I assume they will catch on in the Philippines soon enough, if they have not already.  Why pay registration on a motorcycle when you can ride a "bicycle" for free.

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Viking
Double post

[Viking]

8 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Here, where I live in Canada, LOADS of adults ride bicycles.  Or they call them that.  Yet I haven't seen any adult riding a conventional bike in years.  They all ride those electric assist bikes and go as fast as cars in city traffic.  I assume they will catch on in the Philippines soon enough, if they have not already.  Why pay registration on a motorcycle when you can ride a "bicycle" for free.

It's the same thing in Sweden. Lots of e- bicycles. They were even receiving a discount from the authorities to encourage environmental friendly transportation. A regular bicycle didn't receive any discount! So much for being environmental friendly 😵.

[Viking]

5 hours ago, Kingpin said:

Where would you want go, that you can get to without a highway? Unless you're deep in the province, the small streets are in the squatter areas, and they aren't really bike-friendly at all.

Just around our neighborhood. Within a few kilometers from our house.

I don't know about your place, but where we live there is plenty of small streets that are really bike friendly.👍

That's why I got this idea.

[manofthecoldland]

Fifteen+  years ago, when we rented a home for 3 years in one of our provincial capitol's subdivision that was close into the plaza area, I found it to be a great place to do a 5 PM bicycle route through the street grid for exercise. I was always the fastest thing moving within its confines. I didn't care to ride outside of that area, because of the higher speeds of the motor trikes and larger vehicles. Its still safe on the local roads, however, because of the slow pace of traffic, but traffic was not a concern in the subdivision in either numbers or speed. 

Many bicyclists do ride our city and area roads, however. I just preferred not to.

When we moved 4 km away to a very small house we built, adjoining the coastal road, I discontinued riding, although I still consider it safe along it. If I were to ride today, I would bicycle a km. to another nearby subd. and bicycle there. The 4 Km., 4 lane blvd from the coastal area into the plaza is a straight stretch that everyone maximizes their speed on, so I consider it too risky for my older self., but bicycles are still common on it. 

I would avoid roads with long, straight stretches, because it seems that, that is where the serious accidents and road deaths take place. IMHO

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Viking said:

I don't know about your place, but where we live there is plenty of small streets that are really bike friendly.👍

Here in Subic Bay Freeport we have a lot of safe biking areas, and a few areas with bike lanes.  However, here in the Philippines, practice double defensive cycling!

Our member who was killed by a truck was on a rural road.  He was a serious cyclist who put in high mileage and many hours on the road.  Sometimes with a club and of course solo too.  What happened to him could happen anywhere but of course the drivers here tend to be less caring of cyclists and pedestrians. Distracted driving is also terrible for cyclists!

The more hours you put in on the road, the higher the risk becomes of having an uncontrollable incident.  My friend in Las Vegas was riding in an area with a wide shoulder to ride on, but a drunk still managed to kill him.  Luckily his son was thrown to the side and not injured much.

Your personal risk tolerance comes into play as well.  When I was 30-50 and single, I rode a lot and took many chances.  Now that I have a family I would never do that.  I'm not riding now but if I do it will only be in a safe area.

That being said, I think your plan is fine.  Still to the safe area there.

[Viking]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

Here in Subic Bay Freeport we have a lot of safe biking areas, and a few areas with bike lanes.  However, here in the Philippines, practice double defensive cycling!

Our member who was killed by a truck was on a rural road.  He was a serious cyclist who put in high mileage and many hours on the road.  Sometimes with a club and of course solo too.  What happened to him could happen anywhere but of course the drivers here tend to be less caring of cyclists and pedestrians. Distracted driving is also terrible for cyclists!

The more hours you put in on the road, the higher the risk becomes of having an uncontrollable incident.  My friend in Las Vegas was riding in an area with a wide shoulder to ride on, but a drunk still managed to kill him.  Luckily his son was thrown to the side and not injured much.

Your personal risk tolerance comes into play as well.  When I was 30-50 and single, I rode a lot and took many chances.  Now that I have a family I would never do that.  I'm not riding now but if I do it will only be in a safe area.

That being said, I think your plan is fine.  Still to the safe area there.

We have bike lanes here at the larger roads, but I will not go there. The traffic is too fast to make me feel comfortable.

I realize that it's a risk but so is everything we do. We can minimize it by being careful but we can never avoid it 100%.