Gearing up for safe pedaling during and past the pandemic via clear guidelines, effective advocacy and policy design.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a shift in more usage of the bicycle over the personal car. Many countries, including Nepal, have ceased or downsized public passenger transport and some have even placed restrictions on recreational cycling and walking to discourage non-essential trips. Different countries have tackled these challenging circumstances in different ways – and, in some cases, directives even differ from city to city.
The World Bike Forum 2020 will be a global platform for the cycling community to establish standardized cycling safety measures for the pandemic (distancing measures, contactless interactions, PPE usage etc.) as well as to demonstrate means of effective advocacy and evidence based policy design related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Creating clear, accessible information and directives to help the bicycle community navigate through safe transportation in the new normal.

Transforming activism to implemented policy by sharing success stories, models, policies and practical institutionalization guidelines.

How do we use our activism to create real policy changes? Who do we contact? How? Bicycling activism communities across the world face a classic common conundrum when it comes to running effective campaigns. While many succeed in creating public awareness, a minority is able to take their campaigns forward to create sustainable well implemented policies.

This dilemma is well known, but to truly solve it, we need to know more. Under the World Bike Forum 2020’s Activism to Policy theme, the global bicycling community will address how to transform activism to policy changes via  idea-exchanges on successful models, local innovations of compatible models, creation of essential bicycle & governance literacy and institutionalization of policies for sustainable implementation.

Using principles of integration, participation & evaluation to address mobility needs, enhance quality of life and achieve environmental, social & economic goals.

In the era of rapidly urbanizing cities, policymakers struggle to create sustainable urban mobility plans that satisfy the needs of people, enhance quality of life and address the city’s environmental, social & economic objectives, under the guiding principles of integration, participation, and evaluation.

In the theme Sustainable Urban Mobility, the World Bike Forum 2020 seeks to expand the cycling community’s knowledge around sustainability & inclusion in transport as well as build capacity for case-building for lobbying sustainable urban mobility. Considerable focus will be placed on sustainability and environment in solidarity with creating climate awareness given the relationship bicycling shares with safe inclusive mobility, urban equality and environmentalism.

Identifying and closing gaps in the bicycle industry to develop enterprise, partnerships, capacity and livelihood empowerment tools.

Vehicular industries of cars and motorbikes continually expand infrastructure to make the user experience seamless, easy and preferable — via components such as garages, mechanical training and insurance. To make cycling a more attractive mode of transportation, the bicycle industry, too, must develop and expand to close gaps in the bicycle ecosystem.

Under the Bicycle Ecosystem theme, the World Bike Forum 2020 will host events that will help local bicycling communities identify gaps in their city’s bicycle ecosystems. Infrastructure analysts, scholars, entrepreneurs and avid cyclists will share learnings and solutions on how to develop bicycle enterprise, industry partnerships, capacity and tools that empower livelihoods that depend on bicycling.