Saturday, October 29, 2016

Are Bike Lanes Racist and Classist? The Problems South Africa Faces : Kate Kahle

Johannesburg South Africa has no designated bike lanes, which gives people who take bikes to work a big risk, because it isn't safe to bike on a road where you could be hit by a minibus at any moment. The government has cut spending on making bike lanes because it feels there are other more worthy problems facing the city. Most of the citizens in Johannesburg live in slums on the outskirts of the city without access to even proper sanitation. The government had initially decided to spend money for the benefit of white citizens, who are the majority of bikers, but in a recent election the populist party came to power.
I think that bike lanes are important, but in South Africa where there are so many more pressing problems, I don't think that's the first issue the government should deal with, when the majority of the population doesn't even have good enough infrastructure for a proper sanitation system. I think that a populist government is what South Africa needs because the government is still more focused on the higher class white citizens, even though Apartheid has been over for years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/are-bike-lanes-racist-and-classist-thats-a-debate-in-south-africa/2016/10/27/e4212ffa-971e-11e6-9cae-2a3574e296a6_story.html

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