Seven years ago the authors, commissioned by the Ministry of Transport, applied a questionnaire to municipalities where it was estimated that Brazil accounted for 350 kilometers (km) of infrastructure for bicycle use. In 2005, a study by the Ministry of Cities found this number had risen to 2.500 km.
Funding for projects and infrastructure for bicycle mobility has been provided for more than 60 Brazilian cities (around 3 million USD) since the Ministry of Cities (MC), through its National Secretary of Transport and Urban Mobility (SeMOB), launched the Brazilian Bicycle Mobility Program, BICICLETA BRASIL, in 2004.
Although the raise can be attributed to the BICICLETA BRASIL program funding and incentive, it is interesting to consider more municipalities were included in the second research and there is a country momentum, where the Civil Society has been demanding a participatory process about the Land Use Planning for the last decade and there was an important asking for Bicycle Mobility Infrastructure at the Conference of Cities, in 2003.
BICICLETA BRASIL program started training courses for municipal technicians. In August 2006, technicians from more than thirty Brazilian cities participated in the International Workshop on Planning and Designing of Bikeway Systems in Guarulhos, São Paulo. The training had the partnership of World Bank, Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-ce) LOCOMOTIVES program, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), GTZ Sustainable Urban Transport project (SUTP) and International Bicycle Consultancy (IBC) MOVILIZATION program.
Apart from offering more training, further activities include the Best Practices and the Cycling Planning Manual publications, and the creation of a Technical Department inside (SeMOB) to advise municipal technicians.
The authors have been actively participating in the process as technical and advocacy expertise for the MC and for municipalities.