We want to thank Juanmo Mellaso, President of " A Contramano", who released this interesting interview for us. We really appreciated his availability and are grateful for the time he dedicated to us.

Mariapaola S. (3B L.S.) and Aurora S. (3G L.S.)

 What' s " Contromano" and its main objectives? 

A Contramano is a non-profit ecological cycling association founded in 1987 by citizens of Seville, with the aim to get as many people as possible to use the bicycle as a means of transport and leisure. To achieve this, we:

a. Defend the interests of bicycle users, pedestrians, and anyone opting to move use clean modes of transport, both urban and intercity

b. Study and prepare proposals to boost these modes of transport

c. Protect the natural environment, preserve the urban environment, and improve our quality of life

d. Collaborate internationally to empower ecological modes of transport and our other objectives

e. Collect funds to devote exclusively to these interests

f. Collaborate with public and private organizations that pursue the same interests

g. Carry out all legal acts necessary to achieve these ends.

What made you feel the need to found an organisation like“A Contramano”that has, as its main purpose, defending cyclists’ rights ?

Seville is a city with compact urban design encircled by several small and medium-sized commuter towns. Whilst the population of the Seville city centre remained constant since 1990 to date, the population of the metropolitan ring kept growing. The low population density of the ring hindered the creation of an effective public transport network to link the entire metropolitan area. This generated a high car dependence and significant car congestion in the approach and central area roads. In 1993, a cyclist demonstration announced by A Contramano with only 24hr notice drew more than 10000 people to pedal on the streets under the banner “Cycle Paths Now!”. Citizens felt the time was ripe for a modal shift.

What are the positives of Sevilla's cycle lane and what should still be done to improve it?                              

The basic Seville cycling network was built from 2006 to 2008, and it is still growing to this day, to make the entire city accessible to citizens who wish to cycle. Its positive aspects are that it is:

1. A continuous whole, without breaks

2. Placed in main city avenues, along the same route you would walk or drive

3. Safely segregated from motorized traffic

4. Accessible to bicycles, kick-scooters, e-scooters, and wheelchairs for people with reduced mobility

5. Mostly bidirectional, where you can greet users approaching from the opposite direction, and unidirectional elsewhere (lanes located on opposite sides of the street)

On the other hand, the network would benefit from:

1. Reaching out to all metropolitan towns, to enable safe interurban cycling

2. Reinforcing barriers that physically separate cycle lane and cars on the road, where the cycle lane is at street level

3. Improving maintenance to remove cracks and potholes in the cycle lane surface

4. Widening unidirectional cycle lanes to bidirectional

5. Improving maintenance to remove cracks and potholes in roads shared by cars and bicycles

6. Smoothing out the surface of cobblestones in Seville city centre streets where cycling is allowed

7. Improving bus + bicycle intermodality, for example adding safe bike parking to transport hubs, and adding bike racks to buses

8. Increasing the amount of safe bicycle parking in the streets and in private/public buildings.

9. Installing bicycle counters at critical points, to enable monitoring of cycle network usage and support future planning

10. Change Spanish law to eliminate the requirement for under-16s in the city and everyone in interurban routes to wear bicycle helmets. We believe making the wearing of safety equipment mandatory does not resolve the real causes of cyclist accidents, and dissuades many from cycling.

 What kind of promotional campaigns did you have to organise in order to increase the number of users and persuade lazy citenzs to use bikes? 

No campaigns were organized by the association or by City Hall, as there were many signs of pent-up demand. For example, whilst the lanes were still being built, cyclists were moving aside safety barriers to cycle in half-finished lanes. In a way, the building of a cycle lane network was the best campaign of all. Currently our campaigns are instead directed to City Hall and other public administrations to encourage the building of new cycling infrastructure.

What categories of people are more reluctant to ride bikes and what are you doing to change their minds?Rather than identifying the types of people reluctant to use a bicycle, we prefer to focus on hindering factors, such as the absence of safe and comfortable cycle lanes along certain routes; lack of safe parking to combine the bicycle with other means of transport (buses, metro); or lack of knowledge about available bicycle types. For example, parents may feel their child is too small to cycle to school, but several types of cargo bicycle are good for purpose. Our association works to resolve these hindering factors by studying and preparing specific proposals, by collaborating with public and private administrations, and by engaging with the public through social media and mainstream media such as newspaper articles, radio interviews, and TV appearances, to spread our knowledge and opinions.

Did the population support the cycle path proposal from the beginning? In 2004 Seville City Hall rolled out participative budget, where citizens could vote their preferred proposal to improve the city. “Cycle lanes for Seville” was the highest voted proposal. This empowered from 2004 to 2006 the design and planning of the initial 80km network. In other words, it was popular support that enabled the creation of the network.

When the project was  designed, how difficult was it to make politicians aware about the benefits that Seville could find using a cycle lane?

When the participative budget identified the cycle lane as the preferred proposal of the population, the ruling coalition made building the network part of their policy, and a city councillor that supported urban cycling was chosen to lead the planning department in City Hall. Now away from politics, he is a member of A Contramano. The City Major, others in the ruling coalition, and key civil servants within the department were also supportive. Simultaneously, when the plans for the cycle network were announced, city councillors with ties to car-lobbying groups did not believe they would really go ahead. By the time the plans were made into projects and their budgets allocated, opposition materialized too late to cancel building the network.

How is the safety of  these cycle paths guaranteed for cyclists?

The cycle lane network is physically segregated from motor traffic and it is easily identifiable. Perhaps more importantly, nearly 20 years after its origin, it is protected by a strong cycling culture in Seville, who defend it every day against those who would close it down and give the space it uses to private cars.