The mayor of the Italian city of Como has announced a ban on all bicycles after he was hit by a cyclist outside his office earlier this summer.
Alessandro Rapinese, an independent politician first elected mayor in 2022, explained the decision to the Italian news agency Ansa, saying, “People act based on their own experiences and I know what it’s like to be hit by one of these beasts.”
“I’ve been accused of adopting this measure because I was hit by an electric bike – certainly, that is true.
“Two years ago we decided to regulate access to the ZTL (Low Traffic Zone) for couriers. Then in mid-July, just when the council was discussing the resolution, I leave City Hall and was knocked down by an electric bicycle. There I realised that, for the safety of pedestrians, we also had to regulate access of electric bikes.”
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Rapinese added that he had chosen to introduce a blanket ban, “since the Highway Code prohibits discrimination between normal and electric bikes,” but insisted that he was convinced by the merits of his proposal having taken a similar approach to electric scooters in the city.
“I think it’s madness to have required scooter owners to insure their vehicle and equip it with a license plate, but not to have done it for bicycles which are perhaps even more dangerous”.
Local politicians in Lombardy have already stated their opposition to the ban, which comes into force next month. A mass bike ride in protest of the ban is planned on 12th September, culminating in a demonstration in front of the mayor’s office.
The Nova Como cultural association, which is organising the protest, said in a statement, “The [mayor’s] resolution introduces an area of maximum protection where bicycles and scooters will only be able to move [on foot], 24 hours a day. A measure that stems from a single episode — an accident with an e-bike for high-speed deliveries — but becomes a permanent restriction on all citizens who travel by bicycle [while] respecting the rules.
“Nova Como does not dispute the need for rules for pedestrians and cyclists to co-exist in the historic [city] centre. We contest the method: no prior consultation with residents, businesses or organisations, no evaluation of the impact on those who use the bicycle every day for work, study or family.
“It is the usual reflex of [the mayor’s] administration that, instead of dealing with the city’s real critical issues, they see problems where there are none and acts disproportionately – mistaking the resolution for the solution, and the citizen for a problem to be contained.”
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Rapinese announced the proposal alongside a raft of other measures aimed at making the historic city more “liveable”, including new restricted hours for vans and lorries to enter the city centre to load and unload, with a new permit scheme also created for vehicles to gain access. However, QuiComo report those proposals have also been criticised for a lack of consultation with local businesses.
Meanwhile The Guardian report that the mayor, 50, seems unlikely to change his mind, adding “In other cities, a child goes to hospital and then the politicians take action. Here, I didn’t even end up in hospital. I was hit by a bike, I gathered information and that’s where this measure comes from.”
5 thoughts on ““I know what it’s like to be hit by one of these beasts”: Italian mayor bans bikes in city centre after cyclist struck him”
“Bastardo! Mama Mia! (Not going to bother with the accent) You’ve hit me with your beast of an Suv. I’ll sue the ass off you. I’m the mayor of Como and I’m going to ban your vehicles from the city. Where’s your insurance details?”
“Sorry old chap I’m St Peter.”
Trying to distract attention away again from the fact that car drivers do most of the pedestrian killing and injuring, and cyclists kill and injure hardly anybody.
Having experienced the near lunatic kind of driving that Italy has I think he’d be better off regulating cars. I would be surprised if there wasn’t some way of over-ruling this measure, either through the local council or the regional government.
@60somethingcyclist Unfortunately there are a couple of problems with that: firstly in order to try to manage some of the chaos in the Italian political system, for several decades when a mayor wins an election in large towns they are automatically given a guaranteed majority of 60% of the council seats, and also if a decree of the mayor’s is overruled by the council that automatically triggers a no-confidence vote which then dissolves the council and forces a new election. So in order to vote down this decree not only would opponents need to persuade a considerable number of the mayor’s own party to vote against him but also effectively to vote themselves out of office with no guarantee of return.
Wait til he hears about cars! What a surprise that from street view there’s plenty of them spread across the streets he’s banned bikes from. Plus there’s a municipal bike station right outside the city hall (Commune?). But no, let’s ban bikes because he was probably too busy yapping to somebody rather than using his eyes.