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Assaults on the bike lane that connects the main Playa del Carmen city to the Xcaret park have become a common occurrence. So much so that people affected by this issue confronted Adrian Armando Perez Vela, part of mayor Lili Campos‘ cabinet and inner circle. Perez Vela was actually conducting a press conference to announce that the local government plans to hold a bike ride to commemorate world bicycle day on June 3rd. He was seemingly caught off guard when protesters made this issue known to him.
How These Attacks Are Taking Place
The bike lane that connects Playa del Carmen with Xcaret truly provides a quick path for workers and tourists alike. This bike lane allows bike riders in the main city to arrive at the water park in about a half hour. Most of the people that use that path are actually park workers who live in the main city area. They have been the ones most affected by this issue. German Luis, the man who brought this issue before the city councilman, mentioned that he’d seen assaults take place even on Saturday’s as workers were making their way back home. He directly asked for added security protection in and around the bike lane.
According to local workers thieves hide amongst the bushes, trees and plants that surround the bike lane. Only to emerge when they want to attack someone who is passing by. As mentioned, at this point most of the people that have been intercepted by thieves in the area were precisely workers making their way to and from Xcaret. That doesn’t necessarily mean tourists have come out unscaved.
Traveling the road during the evening, and of course into the night has become extremely dangerous. Tourists who were looking to go on a late night bike ride may want to pick another part of Playa del Carmen that hopefully doesn’t feature as much vegetation where thieves can hide in.
Local Authorities & Civilian Organizations Didn’t Exactly Provide Solutions For Those Affected
Javier Resendiz, president of Bicineta, a local association that seeks to promote the use of bicycles around Playa del Carmen tackled the assault issue in a very unconventional way. Ultimately urging locals to use better locks on their bikes and essentially take their safety into their own hands. It’s important to point out this person is not part of the local government.
However, his proposed solutions didn’t exactly do the local officials any favors. In fact, he went as far as to say that bike robberies were going to go up in the coming months. Resendiz went on a rant that didn’t end up making a ton of sense saying,
“It’s just a statistics fact, this is something that sadly will happen in any city where bike usage goes up. No city government takes responsibility for lost or stolen bicycles. Most of these issues occur because people don’t have the right locks on their bikes. I invite people who have been affected to denounce the act to the competent authorities, because another issue is that people don’t go through the trouble of making a formal complaint”
Throwing More Money At The Problem
For his part Adrian Armando Perez Vela did mention that he would take up the issue with the mobility institute. The local government official took time to deflect some of the blame saying that money collected from parking meters should’ve gone towards upgrading safety measures, and the overall quality of the bike lanes. However, the money collected from parking meters was used elsewhere in previous administrations. The locals who took up this issue with Perez Vela were essentially hoping to get some added security in and around these bike lanes. For now that doesn’t seem to be something that’s in the cards.
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