Limassol mayor bikes to work to mark mobility week

Limassol mayor Nicos Nicolaides on Thursday biked to work to mark the beginning of European Mobility Week, which aims to encourage the use of clean modes of transport.

“This week’s one message is that environmentally friendly mobility is the way to protect our health and contribute to alleviating traffic,” he said, adding that urban traffic issues will not be solved until we limit car use, something that can only be achieved by changing our mentality and culture.

As traffic issues keep getting worse, the state needs to invest in the appropriate infrastructure for bicycle paths, sidewalks, bus lanes and many other actions included in sustainable urban mobility plans, Nicolaides added.

European Mobility Week is the European Commission’s flagship awareness-raising campaign on sustainable urban mobility. According to its website, “it promotes behavioural change in favour of active mobility, public transport, and other clean, intelligent transport solutions”.

It takes place between September 16 and 22 each year, culminating in a car-free day.

This will be Limassol’s 13^th consecutive year participating in the initiative and will include a number of actions to mark the occasion.

British Council’s Active Citizens will lead a discussion about sustainable urban mobility on Thursday afternoon at Limassol municipality to kick off the week.

In collaboration with Nextbike Cyprus, the municipality will be offering free one-hour bicycle rides throughout the week using the code mobweek21.

In addition, tour guides will lead daily ‘Green Walks’ to historic and religious monuments. These will be limited to 15 people at a time and will be by reservation only at 77777788 or [email protected].

This Saturday Anexartisias Street will be pedestrianised from 3pm to 8pm, and street musicians will play at Grigoris Afxentiou square from 4pm to 10pm.

On Sunday, a bike ride along the Garillis linear park will start at 9am at the Fersi Pasha parking lot, led by the Limassol cycling federation.

The mayor reminded that for the past year, Limassol has been running the Park and Ride service, whose aim is to limit traffic in the city centre.

The service allows people to park their cars free of charge at Epaminonda municipal parking lot and take a shuttle bus to the city centre.

He will be meeting Tepak students on Monday to discuss Park and Ride’s functionality and ways to promote it and will join them on the bus ride towards the centre.

On Tuesday, the municipality will visit Tsirio primary school to raise awareness on the use of bicycles in everyday life.

“We hope that through all these actions we will convey the importance of using environmentally friendly means of transport,” Nicolaides finally said.