Although not very popular, there is a group here espousing the bicycle for commuting to work. With the regular heavy traffic on most roads, the bicycle seems to be a logical alternative although not practical because we are in a tropical country and you will surely be sweating a lot when you exert effort on the pedals. Another problem is the accident since statistics are high when it comes to 2-wheel rides figuring in accidents. The only solution would be a bike and motorcycle lanes. The government had thrown its support to the move by installing bicycle racks in some major intersections for the public's benefit. Anyone can use the bike for free up to a certain point in the street. It is a novelty of sorts that has been around for more than 2 years already. PS. I will post the photo of the bicycle rack tomorrow.
Bikes here are not as common as in Vietnam although we have the same tropical climate. That's why biking advocates think that biking just needs a push to become popular. Another hindrance is the lack of bicycle racks in places to park like in malls and restaurants. Only the lowly laborers and office messengers are using the bike for transport. All others prefer the motorcycle which figures highly in the daily road accidents. Here is the photo of the bicycle rack in the corner of Ortigas Avenue and EDSA (E. Delos Santos Avenue). The bikes in the rack are free for use in a particular area only. The sign said "Libre po gumamit ng bisikleta" which means it is free to use the bikes.
And how do they keep the bikes from being stolen?? Riding a bike to work would be great exercise but I agree about sweating...here in Fresno in the summer everybody does their walking or biking before 8:00 am or it gets too hot later.
My recent trip to Copenhagen revealed that it outdoes even Amsterdam for the sheer number of bikes in the city. Here's just a small fraction outside the railway station.
We thought about buying a couple of 10-speed bikes, but then gave it up. To us, there is just too much vehicle traffic and a lot of drivers don't pay any attention to bicycles like they don't (sometimes) to motorcycles. Anyway, we have a power boat, go to a gun/rifle range and have a Wii Game that we play at times. Those three really can give us the exercise.
I would like to ride more often but in this area there are so many vehicles that will not give the right of way to the bike or even people walking. We do have alot of people riding bikes in the city. There is a company that rents bikes so that people can get around Washington, DC on a bike it has grown more and more due to more people wanting to rent the bikes.
I also suspect that there are bikes already stolen because thieves are prevalent here. But I still have to ask to confirm that notion. From what I heard, only those who don't have fare for the bus would use the government's bike. That is unthinkable for the middle class because most have their cars for transportation. For the bikes in the rack, it is obviously a novelty of some sort for the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority). It is really nice to see those bikes hanging in there but so seldom being used.