Tensions flare over bike lane in Mexico City red light district

A new bike lane in Mexico City is drawing opposition from a surprising group: sex workers.

As Ron Johnson explains in Momentum, the newly built Gran Ciclovía Tenochtitlán runs roughly 24 kilometers from central Mexico City to the Estadio Azteca, where World Cup games will be played. "But along parts of Tlalpan Avenue, where street-based sex work has existed for decades, workers say the new bike lane has changed how they connect with clients."

Because the bike lane now separates car traffic from the sidewalk, workers can no longer approach cars to talk and negotiate. As Johnson points out, "it’s an important reminder for cyclists that streets serve many purposes beyond transportation. While protected bike lanes are designed to improve safety and mobility, they also reshape how public space functions — in a good way. But sometimes those changes affect stakeholders that planners and advocates may never have considered."

As Johnson points out,

"One person’s transportation corridor can be another person’s workplace."

The area in question has evolved into an established social and economic ecosystem over the years, and some locals feel the bike lane and other World Cup-related infrastructure improvements will displace vulnerable workers and residents. 

For Johnson, the debate is "a reminder that cities are messy, complicated places where infrastructure decisions aren’t always as simple as we’d like."