Timothy Chui – Monday, April 07, 2008 – The Standard
Forty cyclists became pathfinders yesterday when they carved a route from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan through congested streets to dramatize their fight for a harborfront cycle path.
The group included conservationist Ho Loy and Civic Party lawmakers Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, Mandy Tam Heung-man and Audrey Eu Yuet- mee.
They stopped off at the North Point headquarters of the Planning Department to deliver a letter from the Hong Kong Cycling Alliance and Hong Kong Cycling Information.net.
The HKCA and HKCI want a bicycle path included in the department’s seafront promenade blueprint.
Eu said the government’s policy of squeezing every dollar per square foot has left out considerations such as allowing more open space for the public on the south side of Victoria Harbour.
“We’ve been indoctrinated into an air-conditioned city environment to the extent that a cycle path is a luxury.”
Cycling enthusiast Dick Chan Tak- hung, 50, said: “The town isn’t bike friendly and forcing riders off sidewalks into sharing the road with car drivers is dangerous.”
Without providing adequate cycling networks, the government has put cyclists in harm’s way, Chan added.
There were two fatalities last year. A seven-year-old boy was killed in April and a 13-year-old boy the following month after being struck by vehicles while cycling.