Use of bicycle in Costa Rica: historical review and characterization of the type of cyclists and their mobility on the national road system

Abstract

There is very few research on the use of bicycles in Costa Rica. Over the last years, the use of bicycles has been positioned throughout studies of mobility, transportation and road safety as an important mobility alternative and a possible solution to road traffic congestion in the cities. However, localities where the bicycle has not only been a historically consolidated means of transportation, but also an integral part of the social and economic structures of the communities and their cultural dynamics, they have been ignored and not been acknowledged.
With the construction and improvement of the National Road Network, and the implementation of public policies that do not consider the importance of the use of the bicycle within social spaces of high complexity, a direct and negative impact on the mobility patterns of these populations has been generated, increasing the risk of traffic accidents.
Two categories are proposed to understand the use of the bicycle: utilitarian cyclists, a heterogeneous group whose common element is the daily use of the bicycle from the symbolic space of their communities and historical realities, many of them on a rural context; and recreational cyclists, more homogenous and with more specific characteristics, common to urban spaces and with a bicycle use more oriented to nonprofessional sport and recreation