Movie screening stresses need for bicycles
Bicycles are parked at a bike rack in downtown Seoul in this 2018 file photo. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
By Jon Dunbar
What does it mean to cycle in a city like Seoul flooded by cars? Can Seoul become a bike-friendly city like Copenhagen?
A free screening will be held at
Seoul Global Cultural Center in Myeong-dong
this Saturday of the award-winning documentary
“Bikes vs. Cars” by Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten
. The film looks at the challenges facing cyclists in Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and Copenhagen, but Seoul-based viewers can take some key lessons from it.
“The most important lesson shown in the documentary is that there is a need for bicycle infrastructure,” said
, a German green transport expert based in Seoul who will be leading a discussion session after the screening.
“We can all clearly see that cities and decision-makers prioritize cars on our streets and in urban planning. Car driving is highly subsidized and the vast majority of cities are built around car use. It can be seen how the human scale is greatly ignored and human lives are sacrificed to keep car traffic flowing.”
As city governments across Korea step up efforts to prioritize eco-friendly transport including cycling, they run up against a myriad of obstacles preventing two-wheeled pedal-powered traffic from flowing freely all around the peninsula.
“In Korea, cycling is regarded as a leisure activity you do along the rivers and streams,” Medimorec said. “The thought of the bicycle as a mode of transport disappears once people are old enough to drive a car. Also cars are regarded as a status symbol and a requirement for families.”
He points to some improvements in Seoul's urban mobility options, particularly the
Ttareungyi bike-sharing system
and
that are popping up in select locations around the city.
“But now it's important that Seoul provides suitable, dedicated bicycle infrastructure. Seoul has plans to introduce road diets ― a package of measures to reduce car traffic by lowering the allowed driving speed, reducing the number of lanes and adding bicycle lanes to the side of each road. But I'm still waiting.”
As for the electric scooters, he says they are held back as the laws require them to be driven on the roads. “I can barely recommend anyone to ride them on the streets,” he said. “It's a similar situation as with bicycles and until we see more dedicated infrastructure for bicycles and alternative modes, it will be difficult to see their full potential.”
However, he highlights a higher reliance on bicycles in the North Gyeongsang Province town of Sangju and Geoje Island.
“Sangju is often described as the bicycle capital of Korea. There are supposed to be two bicycles per household in Sangju and bicycles are a common sight, used by all citizens. The famous Korean cyclist Um Bok-dong comes from Sangju,” he said.
“In addition, places like Geoje have a high number of bicycle commuters because of the shipbuilding industry: The shipyards are huge. They do not allow cars inside, and motorcycles are restricted as well, so workers use bicycles to move around the shipyards and for their daily commute.”
If Korea were to fully embrace cycling as widely as these two places, Medimorec has lofty predictions and big promises.
“The air would be cleaner, there would be less noise and fewer traffic crashes,” he said. “Korea would immediately become the country with the highest life expectancy and lower levels of suicide through better mental and physical health. City and national government would have, due to less investment needed for fuel subsidies and road infrastructure maintenance, more money to spend on welfare, job creation and other areas. Seoul would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become a more sustainable city. It would then lead to more tourists and more GDP growth. That's, of course, a very idealistic view but there are many studies for other cities who collected evidence about all these mentioned positive impacts.”
The screening starts at 2 p.m. Saturday
. It is free but a 5,000 won donation is recommended to help support the filmmakers in their upcoming documentary project. Korean-English interpretation is available for non-English-speakers.