Build bicycle lanes, encourage cycling to slow climate change

In Kenya, majority of trips are made by cycling and walking. Only 15 per cent are made by private vehicles, and mostly in the urban areas. Despite this, the construction and planning of towns and transportation systems rarely factors in the place of cyclists or other vulnerable road users (VRUs). 

Additionally, the criteria for selecting road projects in Kenya, while not factoring in special lanes for cyclists and other VRUs, also emphasises economic considerations, meaning that road access for vulnerable groups is not given priority. As such, cycling is often perceived as poor man’s activity and as a sign of a region’s low economic development.

Cycling is an alternative means of transportation that is within reach for many people. Bicycles are zero-emitters and thus effective tools in the reduction of carbon emissions. Cycling also helps to address urban challenges such as mental health and economic equality. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees identified cycling as a “pathway for ensuring a safe, sustainable future for everyone” that cannot be achieved “without a systemic increase in cycling”.

This systemic increase can only be achieved by a reform in policy and regulatory approaches to road construction projects to prioritise non-motorised transport facilities. The resulting advantages in terms of increased access to markets and social amenities are equally welcome co-benefits. 

One of the global climate goals is to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050. This will limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. Road transport accounts for up to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions and this is a figure that is increasing faster than any other sector. In Kenya, the transportation sector directly accounts for 13 per cent of the national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and this is set to rise to 17 per cent by 2030. Indeed, the United Nations General Assembly in its 76th session passed a resolution encouraging all members states to integrate cycling into public transportation which contributes to sustainable development and the reduction of GHGs. 

Within the Kenyan context, our climate policies recognise the transport sector as a key contributor of GHGs and lists the development of non-motorised transport (NMT) facilities as a means of reducing the emissions. In contrast, however, the transport sector policies seldom prioritise non-motorised transport facilities. The State Department of Transport on its website, for instance, only speaks to electric vehicles under its Transport and Climate Change section and makes no mention of bicycle lanes or other NMT facilities. 

However, this is a solution that would only be available to those who can afford to purchase electric vehicles, and one that inadvertently reinforces a status quo that steeps toward promoting inequality, especially considering a majority of people in Kenya do not use private vehicles, and further, that a decrease in the use of private vehicles is more desirable for healthier and more sustainable urban spaces.

With the transport sector being a significant contributor of GHGs emissions, the government ought to focus its efforts on the promotion of non-motorised transport. Indeed, improved infrastructure for non-motorised transport has been listed as a principal roads policy reform initiative since the 1900s. Under the Kenya Urban Transport Infrastructure Project, the government had included an NMT component dealing with the construction or improvement of bicycle paths and footpaths.

This project was to run from 1995-2000. However, due to poor planning and foresight, these plans were not prioritised and urban areas were left with a restricted capacity to take advantage of the low-tech options in NMT facility construction.

The National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP 2018-2022) lists seven different priority sectors, including energy and transport. The goal in terms of transportation is to “establish efficient, sustainable world-class transport systems and logistic services that can withstand the expected impacts of climate change.”

The four transport actions to be taken are listed as climate proofing transport infrastructure, development of an affordable, safe and efficient public transport system including a BRT in Nairobi and non-motorised transport facilities; reducing fuel consumption and fuel overhead costs including electrification of the SGR and encouraging low-carbon technologies in the aviation and maritime sectors. 

On the development of non-motorised transport facilities, one of the expected results in the NCCAP is the construction of 150km of NMT facilities, including pedestrian and bicycle access within, and to town centres and transit stations by June 30, 2023. With just over a year to this deadline, not much progress has been made towards achieving this goal.

The GESIP similarly lists integration of NMT in the design of roads in all county headquarters with the objective of promoting sustainable infrastructure and achieving a green economy. There is a need to promote non-motorised forms of transport as a way of combating climate change and to advocate for heightened complementarity between the transport sector and the climate change sector in the development of policies.