Are Bikes Coming Back to Cuba With the Economic Crisis?

Are Bikes Coming Back to Cuba With the Economic Crisis? / 14ymedio,
Marcelo Hernandez

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 23 February 2017 — When you look at
the photos of the most difficult years of Cuba's "Special Period," there
are several details that can be observed: how skinny Cubans were, the
deterioration of their clothing, and the number of bicycles that filled
the streets. Just like the dial phone evokes the first half of the
twentieth century, these pedal-powered vehicles remind many Cubans of
the most difficult times of their lives.

Despite the benefits to health and the environment, most of those born
in the last half century on this island see bicycles as a means of
transportation for times of crisis. It is no coincidence that the
decline in the use of these vehicles began with the opening to tourism
in the 1990s, and with the distribution of licenses for the operation of
a private sector.

Thousands of bike-focused parking lots, tire-patchers and bike-repairers
saw their clientele gradually diminish until they had to close. In
Havana very few of these places are left, though they once sprinkled the
landscape of the city. Also disappearing, along with them, is the
massive imports of parts from China to be assembled into bikes in Cuba.

However, with the economic difficulties of recent months, led by the
drop in oil shipments from Venezuela, some are making haste to reassume
the custom of pedaling. Late, missing and overcrowded buses, along with
the fallout from state-imposed price controls on private taxis – which
has even resulted in drivers going on strike – has led a resurgence of
problems in getting from place to place.

Resigned, some are dusting off their bikes and launching themselves into
the streets under their own power, on two wheels.

Source: Are Bikes Coming Back to Cuba With the Economic Crisis? /
14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/are-bikes-coming-back-to-cuba-with-the-economic-crisis-14ymedio-marcelo-hernandez/