Feature: Cycling "growing trend" to avoid traffic jams in Damascus

Fed up with the suffocating traffic jams in the Syrian capital Damascus, more people are turning to cycling as a transportation means to avoid being stuck for hours.

Away from the sound of clashes and firing near the capital, hundreds of Syrians took part in a mass bike ride Friday, as part of a campaign aimed to promote cycling among the Damascus people.

Men and women of different ages took part in the city bicycle rally, the second to have taken place in Damascus since last November.

They started to ride their bikes at 10 a.m. around the Mazzeh highway in western Damascus for an hour.

The mass bike ride was organized by the Yalla Let's Bike Initiative, a non-government group of activist youths, and under the auspices of the Damascus Governorate and cooperation of the traffic police.

Organizers said cycling is becoming a growing trend among the Damascenes as the number of participants have risen since November rally from 850 to 1,500 people on Friday.

"I think that with the traffic jam in Damascus, people should start looking for alternatives and the best choice is riding bicycles," Salah Taqwa, a volunteer in Yalla Initiative, told Xinhua.

He said biking is not a new thing in Damascus but his group wanted to expand this experience and make it more common among the people to alleviate some of the troubles facing their daily movement.

As a result of the four-year-old crisis and state of insecurity, the authorities opted to set up checkpoints in almost all main streets of Damascus, which caused a suffocating traffic jams during rush hours.

The battles around Damascus and elsewhere in the country have also contributed to the daily traffic jams inside the capital as tens of thousands of people fled their homes in different parts of the country and sought safe haven inside Damascus.

"Our initiative is a non-profit and development-related move aimed at promoting cycling due to the traffic jam in Damascus city. Our aim is also to preserve the environment, save time, and raise awareness about the health benefits of biking," Tamim, another volunteer, told Xinhua.

"Now, larger segments of society are endorsing the idea and we see more people using bicycles as their transportation means everyday," he added.

Biking fans showed up Friday wearing their jumpsuits and showing off their biking gears as they assembled at the al-Mazzeh district where the event started.

"Today we wanted to restore the beautiful image of Damascus and we want to tell the world that despite the war, we are still strong and moving on," 32-year-old Hala al-Ali said, standing near her pink bicycle.

She said this trend is so useful for the university students who go back and forth more than one time a day to their colleges. "So, using bicycles is definitely a better choice."

Ranim al-Malek, another participant, said she had hoped to see such activity in Damascus for a long time because "it's a positive and healthy trend that should become more and more common." Endit