If you’d like an impartial view of the benefits of cycling and what getting onto a – preferably – human-powered two-wheeler can do for one’s physical and emotional well-being, read on.
Okay, so it isn’t exactly an unbiased appraisal. I am a self-confessed hopelessly addicted biker. I trundle up and down the highways and byways of this beloved and tormented country every week, to the tune of more than 11,000 km. per annum. That puts me in a pretty decent position to convey the importance of as many of us as possible – Jerusalemites definitely included – using the said health-inducing, pollution-reducing and, yes, efficient mode of transport.
Prof. Miriam Goldstein can certainly attest to all of the above boons.
“I cycle from home [in Katamon] to work on Mount Scopus almost daily,” says the 50-year-old Boston-born academic. Between teaching, researching, writing, and bringing up four offspring, Goldstein, a graduate of Harvard and Cambridge University who specializes in Arabic medieval history, somehow manages to squeeze in working – gratis, mind you – for Bicycles for Jerusalem, which generally goes by the Hebrew acronym ABI.
We met in the run-up to the organization’s grand annual cycling event, Ride of the Year, which this year takes place on June 5, under the ABI aegis, with the full and enthused support of the Jerusalem Municipality.
Goldstein says cycling offers windfalls for all, right across the existential board. “When I get to university, I feel energized. I get up in front of my students feeling full of confidence because I just biked to work. It’s just stunning,” she says.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the young folk in her classes who make their way to school via public transportation.
“We’ve got to have sustainable ways of getting to Mount Scopus,” Goldstein urges. “Many of my students complain about the buses. The buses get stuck in traffic. It’s terrible.”
User-friendly infrastructures could go a long way toward helping in that regard. “If biking were easier, so many of my students would be doing it.” They would also get to class with more energy, and more focused, and would be even more attentive to what Goldstein has to tell them about the Islamic Golden Age. That’s got to be a win-win state of affairs.
That welcome, universally beneficial agenda will be heralded and promoted at Ride of the Year as hundreds, possibly thousands, of cyclists converge on Safra Square for – to brazenly borrow from the verbiage of the hallowed Tour de France – the “grand depart.”
As usual, the communal ride will take a circuitous route around the capital, with the accent very much on raising cycling’s profile and reminding Jerusalemites that we are an important feature of the life of the city, and that as much as possible should be done to make commuting across town a safer and more pleasurable activity.
Many of the participants will arrive at Safra Square wearing brightly colored, even outlandish, duds, and there will be a monstrous contraption, with two riders on saddles towering several meters above street level. No doubt there will also be some noisy good cheer and plenty of whistle blowing as the bikers make their way along the city streets.
There is also a program of cycling-related activities lined up, which includes a secondhand bike sale; offers of subsidized hybrid bicycles for anyone daunted by the prospect of navigating Jerusalem’s hilly topography; a bicycle graffiti studio; and riding lessons for beginners.
Mayor Moshe Lion has enthusiastically supported the event and is expected to be doing some pedaling himself on the day.
Cycling as a way of life in Jerusalem
Having just completed her first half-century on terra firma, Goldstein is a picture of enthused, teeming, robust good health. She is a walking, talking, pedaling advertisement for the cycling fruits on offer. And all six members of her family cycle around town, to school, work, the stores.
“We don’t own a car,” she tells me. If only that idea were taken up by more residents of the capital.
In an inspiring TED talk he gave nine years ago, Minnesota-based cycling activist Anthony Desnick revealed a string of astounding facts and figures, such as the fact that – at that time – 600,000 people died annually in the US in what he called “wholly preventable sedentary-related illnesses.”
He followed that up by stunning his audience with the fact that 50% of the car trips Americans made were under two miles (3.2 km.). One wonders what the corresponding figures for this country are.
Desnick also related that he has Crohn’s disease and was told by doctors over a decade ago that he did not have long to live. So far, he is proving them wrong and enjoying a happy, healthful lifestyle. He directly attributes that to the fact that, after being given his doomsday prognosis, he simply got on a bike and started riding.
Back in Jerusalem, Goldstein says she’s in good company at ABI. “We are lucky. Some very smart and committed people have decided they’re not going to make millions in hi-tech. They’re going to be in the municipality [helping to develop the cycling scene in Jerusalem].” It is contagious. “One of the reasons I became so active in volunteering in ABI is because of the smart, talented people who are surrounding me. The average age of people in ABI is around 30 to 35.”
That’s a generation or so behind the new quinquagenarian, but she says there are some wise, inspiring heads on those young shoulders.
“I’m at the older end of the ABI active volunteers, and I’m not the most active,” she notes. With the aforementioned professional and parental commitments, that’s fully understandable. Still, Goldstein gives her all, when she can. And she’s perfectly happy to follow her younger colleagues’ lead.
“Why am I willing to be pushed around by 35-year-olds? Because they know what they’re doing,” she chuckles. “They’re really good. And they’ve upped our [social] media presence – Facebook, Instagram. We get more followers. We get more people. There’s a lot more awareness.”
As someone who rides in and around Jerusalem on a regular basis, I can corroborate that assertion with respect to the cyclists’ “foe,” the folks who prefer gas-guzzling four-wheelers to public transportation or eminently environmentally friendly bikes.
Cycling down, for example, from Ora Junction in the direction of the Ein Kerem branch of Hadassah-University Medical Center, I can espy vehicles following me down the hill in the fisheye mirror on my handlebars. From experience, I can categorically state that the vast majority of motorists, Egged bus and truck drivers included, maintain a safe respectful distance from me and don’t honk their horns as I limit them to my 40-50 kph down the winding road with the spectacular vista across to Beit Zayit and beyond to Mevaseret Zion.
That also applies to the wider environs of the capital, all the way past my abode in the Eila Valley and over to Beit Guvrin.
In the context of cyclist visibility, some years ago there was a proposal to pass a European law obliging cyclists to wear helmets. That led to an immediate sharp downturn in the number of cyclists out on the road, which brought the presence of bicycle users down below the critical mass level.
The legislation idea was duly dropped, the errant cyclists duly got back in their saddles, and motorists became aware – or were reminded – of the need to watch out for road users who are not encased in heavy, metal- and glass-enclosed vehicles, hence restoring a healthier car-bicycle ratio.
Naturally, having cycling infrastructures in place, enabling commuters and other more leisure-oriented bike users to crisscross around town without having to deal with motorized traffic, helps a lot. Having ridden in suitably designed urban milieus such as London, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Chicago, I can attest to the immense enjoyment to be derived from cycling from A to B, and often thereafter to C, D, and onward, in completely safe and stress-free conditions.
That said, I must say that in terms of bicycle traffic, London is now – in the enduring aftermath of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games – such a bike-oriented city that you really have to keep your wits about you. That particularly applies during the morning rush hour, when straying an inch or two from your perceived line of wheeling might put you in danger of being slammed by a seasoned commuter cycling along his beaten route at high speed. But wouldn’t that be a nice problem to have in Jerusalem?
One of the problems we do have in Jerusalem is the lack of continuity between bicycle paths. In Vienna, for example, I have cycled around town for kilometers in seamless fashion, other than the odd red traffic light. And that’s even without noting the cyclist’s rear end-friendly surface material used by the Vienna Municipality for the paths.
In contrast, at various junctures around Sacher Park, for example, the municipal powers that be decided it would be nice to have strips of Jerusalem-style stone, presumably for their aesthetic value. However, all they do is give the cyclists a literal and physical pain in the ass. It must be said, however, that the issue has been raised with the municipality and, apparently, will be addressed in due course.
Another problem that has to be frequently navigated by in-town cyclists is vehicles parked partly or slap-bang in the middle of bicycle paths. The paths that run along both sides of Henrietta Szold Street between Mount Herzl and Kiryat Hayovel are a prime sorry example.
Building a bike-friendly city
Oren Lotan, projects manager for the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan Team, is doing his best to help promote a rosier scenario as he pushes the development of bicycle paths and other off-street conduits across the capital.
He says that when he came on board the Jerusalem cycling scene a couple of years ago, there were around 40 km. of bike paths. Since then, that figure has doubled, with around another 20 km. of dedicated cycling thoroughfares under construction or in the pipeline.
That, presumably, is one of the driving factors behind the rising number of cyclists in Jerusalem. Recent surveys indicate that there was a whopping 40% increase in Jerusalemites’ regular biking in the city between 2022 and 2025, with 12,500 opting for cycling as a means of daily commuting. Lotan says he expects to see a further surge when the figures for 2026 come in.
That has got to be good news for all concerned and, no doubt, will be reflected in the number of people who turn up on bikes for Ride of the Year on June 5.
Making Jerusalem more cycle-friendly and thereby generating all the above personal and public physical and emotional health-related advantages should not be down to budgetary considerations – that is, if the guys and gals with their hands on the national and municipal purse strings are capable of seeing a wee way into the future.
In his TED talk, Desnick enlightened his listeners with an astonishing statistic from Scandinavia, where it was discovered that the return on every euro invested in cycling systems is an amazing €8.
Providing parking facilities is also a crucial factor in persuading folks to, for example, cycle to a light rail stop, combining self-propelled sustainable modes of transport with the public kind.
Some years back, I was sent a copy of the light rail master plan for Jerusalem, which addressed the possibility of allowing Jerusalemites to ride from home to their nearest light rail stops and leave their bikes tethered to secure moorings. Thus far, nothing has come of that. Hope springs eternal.
Goldstein says providing cyclists with dedicated parking facilities is at hand. “ABI has a group that deals with that. We work on where we need bike parkings; we replaced bad bike parkings by [applying] pressure. We’ve gotten approval at the Knesset [for good parking apparatus] and at the Israel Museum.
“These are not dreamers we have in ABI. These are serious people. People are choosing responsible city jobs in order to promote sustainable transportation.”
And the fruits of their devoted labors are becoming – albeit gradually – increasingly apparent across the cityscape.
With everything we have been through here in the past few years, and who knows what else is in store for us in the not too distant future, getting into some joy-inducing activity can’t be a bad prospect.
“I get on my bike, it’s like immediate happiness,” Goldstein declares. “I’m never happier than when I’m riding with my kids somewhere. I can be down about something, and I get on my bike and I’m instantly happy.”
That can’t be bad; and, hopefully, with the cycling hordes descending on the city center come June 5, more and more people – officials and motorists alike – will get the message.
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