‘Cities, Bicycles and the future of Mobility” tour rolled on yesterday to Lima, Perú. Lima has developed rapidly since the 1950s, Lima into a city with a dense network of roads and freeways. In 2010, Perú issued a new national level policy that gave priority to biking legislation and promoted the creation of bicycle infrastructure.

On July 19, despite the Peruvian national soccer team playing at the same time as the semifinal of the America Cup, this commitment was evident in the 200 people who came to the Daniel Alcides Carrion Convention Center for ITDP & David Byrne’s “Bicyles, Cities and the future of Mobility” tour.

Bernardo Baranda, ITDP Regional Director for Latin America, opened and introduced Byrne and the 5% for bikes campaign. He then explained how groups in Mexico City plan to achieve the goals of the campaign by the end of 2012, through advocacy and strategic outreach to city officials.

Jessica Tantalean, the city’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, followed with an overview of Lima’s strategies to increase bicycle use. She highlighted the city’s Sunday’s Ciclodia, where streets are closed to cars for bikes and pedestrians, that has already attracted more than 10,000 people weekly on Arequipa Avenue.

David Byrne followed by presenting his experience as a NYC bike commuter, speaking about its convenience compared to the car, and how popular it is, showing a list of famous people riding bikes like Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Barack Obama, Tennessee Williams and Brigitte Bardot among others.

Other luminaries in the audience included Arnold Millet Luna, General Director of Municipal Services, a representative on behalf of the City Mayor, Susan Villagran, and Arian Hamburger Ambassador of the Netherlands in Perú.