Move on Bikes Program: A Community-Based Physical Activity Strategy in Mexico City

Abstract

Open streets programs are free and multisectoral programs in which streets are temporally closed allowing access to walkers, runners, rollerbladers, and cyclists. The Move on Bikes program (by its name in Spanish Muévete en Bici) (MEB) consists of 55 km of interconnected streets in middle-high income areas of Mexico City. There is scarce evidence on the evaluation of this program in Mexico. The purposes of this study were to estimate the participation, physical activity levels among the MEB participants, and the association of the frequency of participation with sociodemographic, physical, and program characteristics. Methods: From October 2017 to July 2018, six hundred seventy-nine MEB participants were surveyed using a questionnaire that contains sociodemographic, physical, and program characteristics. A wide-angle video camera was used to estimate the average speed of each activity per event per participant. Based on the information collected by the program authorities and survey interviews, we estimated the number of participants per event. Results: On a typical MEB program day, 21,812 people participated. MEB program users accumulated an average of 221 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per typical Sunday and 88.4% accumulated at least 150 min of MVPA. In total, 29.6% of users attended the program every Sunday. Those who were more likely to attend the program frequently included: men, those aged 41 to 64 years old, users classified as very and sufficiently active, those that used active transportation to travel to the program, and participants that came alone. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the MEB program adds an extra 71 min/week of MVPA to more than 20,000 users.

Understanding the contribution of public- and restricted-access places to overall and domain-specific physical activity among Mexican adults: A cross-sectional study

“…Another effective strategy seeking to promote transport-based PA as a choice and change social norms related to travel-related PA may be already in place in Mexico. In line with previous work among users of the "Muévete en Bici" program (a Sunday Ciclovia program for leisure PA) in Mexico City [20], our results showed that cycling paths were more frequently used by participants with a better education or income adequacy (Fig 2) than their peers. One potential explanation for this is that in Mexico, efforts to increase cycling opportunities and infrastructure have been prioritized in high-income neighborhoods, and are generally not motivated by health promotion goals [21].…”

Original research Socio-demographic patterning of self-reported physical activity and sitting time in Latin American countries: findings from ELANS

“…Sex differences in transport and leisure physical activity have been reported in studies from countries with different income levels [41]. Overall, our investigation found, similarly to other regions (Mexico, Europe, and the United States) [49–51], significantly lower physical activity in women than men. Such results argue for interventions targeting women to help close the sex difference and reach the global physical activity goals [41, 52].…”

Social Inclusion and Physical Activity in Ciclovía Recreativa Programs in Latin America

“…It consists of 55 km of interconnected streets that are closed from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the first three Sundays of each month, with about 37 events per year. On average, an estimate of 21 thousand people attends the program every Sunday [ 34 , 47 ] ( Table 1 ).…”

“…There are around 497 Ciclovía programs in 27 countries globally, with Latin America being the region with the greatest number of regular programs [ 30 , 31 ]. Evidence coming from programs of Bogotá [ 32 , 33 ], Mexico City [ 34 ], Santiago de Cali [ 35 ], and Santiago de Chile [ 27 ] shows that these programs promote healthy lifestyles [ 30 , 33 , 36 , 37 ], reduce exposure to air pollution and street noise [ 38 , 39 ] and enhance inhabitant’s quality of life [ 33 , 40 ]. Of particular interest is the role of the Ciclovía in promoting PA, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean region, the region with the overall highest prevalence of insufficient PA worldwide (43.7%) [ 41 ].…”