2,200 cyclists raise awareness on children's bike-safety in Barcelona

Approximately 2,200 cyclists of all ages took over the streets in the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona for the 3rd edition of Kidical Mass, a playful demonstration on wheels to raise awareness of the safety of children on bikes in the city on Sunday. 

This year's Kidical Mass, under the slogan '0% emissions, 100% emotions', had a parkour of four kilometers.  

"We want a bikeable city with sustainable, safe and healthy mobility," member of the Bicicleta Club de Catalunya (BACC), Marta Casar, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN). 

"First of all, we have to pacify Barcelona. That it is really a city where you can move at a more relaxed pace. A capital where you can walk, cycle and use public transport," she added. 

"We want private and motorized mobility to really decrease in the city and, at the moment, we only receive small signs of support and interest," Casar said. 

She gave the example of the Bicibús, an initiative where adults cycle to school with kids in the Sant Antoni district of Barcelona. 

"We would like to make a Bicibús without the Guàrdia Urbana local police having to protect us, to go to school with the kids in peace," she added. 

Adapting to bicycles 

"The city is increasingly adapting and getting more bike lanes, I normally move around on wheels", Rosaura Canales, resident of Barcelona, said. 

"I would like to criticize the traffic light debacle. People do not respect them, neither pedestrians nor motorcyclists nor cyclists," Canales added. 

"The bicycle is another means of transport and must be respected. We need more bicycle lanes and more respect," another resident of the Catalan capital, Adriana Monroy, said. 

Global movement Kidical Mass 

Kidical Mass is a movement that started in 2008 in Oregon in the United States to put attention on the rights of anyone to move around safely on a bike.  

In the last few years, the movement has seen a rise in central Europe, especially in Germany where the Kidical Mass has been organized since 2017. 

In 2022, more than 90,000 people participated in over 400 cities all over the world.