Sergio Almeida – the cyclists’ rights advocate taking on the Prague authorities
Cycling enthusiast Sergio Almeida has come to public attention in Prague for his clashes with the authorities, both online and on the streets. The Portuguese man, who is 45, criticizes the city’s cycling lanes and aggressive drivers on social media and even streams videos from his bike live on YouTube. The magistrála, the large through-road that cuts across the top of Wenceslas Square, is a regular bugbear of Almeida’s – and when we met metres from it he described run-ins he has had with city officials.
“I was having a normal ride but the city police dropped a siren, to stop, and said, Magistrála – no cyclists. They didn’t speak English, only German and Russian.
“And the big scandal there was not stopping me with the ‘no cyclists’ message, but the profanity they used against me.
“That was the first public experience. The second one was when I got fed up with close passes; by law you have to give [cyclists] 1.5 metres, so you have to give a safe distance.
“Everyone ignores this. I really had a close pass really close to the Main Station, completely ignoring the rule so I tweeted, Tomorrow I will make a bike lane. I don’t care – arrest me, sue me, I don’t care.”
So you created your own bike lane?
“The police were already waiting, so it was really deliberate, nothing hidden, everything public.
“I tweeted, Tomorrow I will make a bike lane – I don’t care.”
“And yes, I just painted with 24-hour paint safe spots to ride.
“So you have to break some laws, but breaking the law is actually safer than if you follow the law, because the law treats you, a bicycle, the same way as a car which can never be the case, because of physics and everything.
“At I.P. Pavlova it was quite a show. I shared a live broadcast, so everything was open.
“Then a few months later the city declared me guilty, but I really didn’t care – it was really showing my point.”
You told me you’ve travelled a lot and cycled a lot in different places. How do Czech drivers compare in their attitude toward cyclists and treatment of cyclists to drivers in other places?
“Actually, most drivers have quite a standard. Portugal also has very excessive car privileges as well. Also some parts of Italy.
“Basically on roads where nobody believes that someone cycles there is always attention. But I kind of get them – you go at high speed, you only focus on…”
You don’t blame drivers then?
“No, in Prague itself I really blame the city. The city deliberately forces conflict between everyone cycling.
“If you ride in any normal streets you get angry drivers. If you ride on the sidewalk, because it’s safer, if it’s really crowded with pedestrians you anger the pedestrians.
“At Troja, Zbraslav and Modřany, where people jog and run, and everywhere else where there’s a mixed path there are always conflicts. And I totally agree with everyone.
“Where there’s a mixed path there are always conflicts.”
“But the city refuses. I really show the city solutions – I even put better designs on Twitter, Facebook and so on. But the city keeps quiet.
“Now, according to one member of the city council, it is really the chief of police who refuses to do proper safety measures. There are many things that are simple and don’t require changing anything on the asphalt or design.
“It’s just about properly dividing paths, but it has been refused.
“Cyclists are always forced to be close to traffic and I call that ‘close pass legalisers’, because you will have a narrow bike lane and you have your traffic lane and they really go close to you.
“Yeah, fine, you’re in a bike lane, but you’re really less than half a metre from them. It’s really suicidal, like everyone says.”
How common are bike lanes in Prague?
“You’re in a bike lane, but you’re really less than half a metre from cars. It’s really suicidal.”
“Which ones? Protected? I would say none.”
That means where they’re totally cut off?
“Yes. Not mixed with pedestrians, not mixed with traffic. There is one in Brumlovka, but 200 metres. They made one around the bridge, but only 200 metres. There’s no continuity.
“What the city considers safe cycling is every leisure point. So if you go around Žižkov, OK, there’s a bike lane for you – and for everyone else.
“They made one in Holešovice recently, but the same mix. Protected cycling infrastructure in Prague is always mixed. Never, ever separate, so always forcing conflict. Why?”
Some people listening to this will say, Prague is not really an ideal city for cycling, you have hills, you have narrow streets, old streets. It’s not like Berlin or somewhere like that. Drivers can be aggressive. Why don’t you just accept that and use Prague’s great public transport system?
“Well, I was using Prague’s great transport system during the last month, because I had a bone injury. But the Metro is crowded always and you always have to rely on the Metro.
“Also you work out. I was really not doing any exercise at all and biking actually makes me fit and more awake. It improves your mood, it improves your fitness.”
Have you had any very bad experiences as a cyclist in Prague? Have you been hit by a car or anything like that?
“I would make a one-month pop-up bike lane on the magistrála.”
“No, luckily not. I have my life insurance, let’s say – recording the rides and live broadcasts on YouTube.
“So if that happens, it’s definitely achieved something.”
OK, you are the mayor of Prague, the king of Prague, for one day – what do you do to make it better?
“OK. I would bust a bunch of myths. I would make a one-month pop-up bike lane here. Just one month – and then see for yourself.
“Do protect the cycling infrastructure, of course; you need planning and yadda yadda.
“But, I highly recommend, cut one lane from here and leave it to cyclists for one week: for Mobility Week, in September, or World Car Free Day.
“The city joins World Car Free Day but really hides. So let’s say have a week-long pop-up bike lane here.”
But surely if you have one lane given over to cyclists then the cars will be more backed up, which also causes problems? People get very frustrated and very angry if they’re stuck in a traffic jam half the day.
“No. A driver can also be a cyclist. Maybe they are forced to drive because it’s completely dangerous to ride. Who knows?
“A driver can also be a cyclist. Maybe they are forced to drive because it’s completely dangerous to ride.”
“You really need continuous infrastructure, not just one spot here and there and then put a bike counter and claim that nobody rides.
“You really need continuity, and that’s what’s missing here.”
For you, are cars overly prioritized by the Prague authorities? Are they over privileged?
“Yes. That’s the big defect of Prague – excessive privilege to traffic. Even pedestrians have to beg for a green to cross the street.
“If you are at a traffic light with a sensor, you only have green if a car is behind you; if you don’t have a car behind you, you will never get green.
“It’s criminal excessive privilege. Air quality has been miserable in recent months and the noise is always exceeding the levels. All the environmental levels are breached.
“The city could easily be sanctioned just for this.”
The way you describe Prague it sounds so terrible. But are Prague citizens really so frustrated? Or are they quite content with the way it is already?
“I think they’re afraid… they don’t want to be bothered, that’s the thing. It is what it is, that’s it.
“If something big happens they go protest, like 10 years ago, I guess. But now they assume, That’s it, we can’t change it, it’s what we have.
“It’s quite normal in other cities and you need someone quite strong to make a change. Like Bratislava – it already did some things to calm the traffic. Plenty of Polish cities have also removed traffic and calmed traffic.
“Basically everyone has calmed traffic, except Prague. The reason why – that’s a question.”
You tweet quite often at politicians, including at the deputy mayor for transport, Zdeněk Hřib. Today I saw you were tweeting about “pure car anarchy” in Prague. Do the politicians ever respond to you?
“No, because I always make the hardest questions. That’s the thing. My simple questions with an obvious answer are always hard to answer.
“The only time Hřib answered me – it was when he was actually mayor – was when I threatened to make a bike lane the next day.
“It was, Please don’t, in a democracy things cannot be done overnight… Then everyone fired off a bunch of examples of things that you can do overnight.
“The city can block a lane for bus replacement. It usually happens every July 5 and 6. They always remove one lane and it runs smoothly – so it’s already proven that one lane less will not complicate traffic.
“And by the way, traffic is mainly from suburbia, meaning non-Prague residents. Why does Prague have to take the burden of suburbia just transiting the city?”
What do you think if you see a parent cycling on a busy street with lots of cars and on the back of their bike they have a little infant? Would you do that?
“I protect them actually. It happened on the riverside. I saw a mother and her young child and I really slowed down and went more in the middle – officially illegally.
“I really stopped and stayed in the middle and made sure that the mother at least felt safe. I also shared a video of that.”
The reason I ask you this is because I am for cycling and I think it’s a great idea. But in a case like that I think maybe the parent is risking their child’s life for the sake of a principle.
“It’s not ideology riding a bike.”
“It might not be a principle. She might not have a car and she wants to ride from A to B.
“It’s not ideology riding a bike – it’s the most normal thing, especially in a big city.
“So calling it that would not be really not European, I would say.
“She maybe needs to go from A to B. Or there is a safe bike lane, let’s say, over there, to Žižkov, but she has to ride this bit on the magistrála to get to Žižkov safely.
“That’s the thing, there is no continuity. So you have a bit [of bike lane] here but you don’t have it over there. But then you have to go to the risky part to get to the safe side.
“She might want to get to the leisure point, but you have to face this mess.”
We’re now by the magistrála. If somebody is riding on it, what’s your advice to them as to the safest way to cycle on this busy road?
“Well, in the part where the lanes are really wide, you can ride on the right side. Car and rider can share the same lane.
“But once it starts to be narrow, basically from the bridge, start to ride in the middle of the lane; the lane is too narrow. Everyone will claim it’s illegal, but it’s safer.
“So ride in the middle of the lane, so you really force the driver to go on the other side. Firstly to not be so close to you, and secondly the driver has to occupy the entire lane, so he has to look behind really to cross.”
You’re basically saying, This whole lane belongs to me, so go around me or behind me?
“Well, isn’t everyone treating a bicycle as the same as a car? OK then, I will use the entire lane. It’s my right also.”
Does it annoy drivers, if they think you’re too far out?
“No, no. The large majority are actually good drivers. The large majority are really good drivers and they understand the situation.
“But there is always some guy – basically taxi drivers – who has a complex and it sets them off.
“So because of one small thing, everyone pays. I’m not really accusing any drivers, or saying all drivers are evil. No.”
