Joy of riding two wheels in Bogota
Residents in Colombian capital take to bicycles one day per week in a bid to fight congestion.
Bogota is known across South America for its giant traffic jams that bring total paralysis to the city’s streets at rush hour and beyond.
With no metro system and over eight million people the streets are chaotic and dangerous. Every year about 1,000 people are killed in road accidents.
But on Thursday, Bogotanos will experience a very different city, one free of private cars. For the entire day private transport will be banned and major streets will be turned into bicycle lanes to cut pollution and encourage people to use other forms of transport.
Inaugurated a decade ago the day has now been institutionalised through a public referendum.
Catalina Velasquez, a local fashion designer, tells Al Jazeera what it’s like to get around Bogota on two wheels.