CAR-FREE SUNDAY A HIT IN COLOMBIA

Fifty years ago, a 28-year-old Colombian with a bushy beard, flares and vintage Raleigh bicycle led a revolution on the streets of Bogota.

Architect Jaime Ortiz Marino got permission to shut down a section of roads and – with 5,000 other two-wheeler radicals – pedalled down the middle of the street on Dec 15, 1974, in protest against car culture.

The world's first Open Streets event quickly grew into a weekly fixture named "Ciclovia" that has spawned dozens of imitations in cities worldwide.

"This is the biggest outdoor civics classroom in the world," said Mr Ortiz Marino, now 78, surveying his creation with satisfaction on a recent Sunday.

An estimated 1.7 million Bogotanos walk, cycle, jog, rollerblade, scoot, ride unicycles and push buggies through 128km of car-free streets each Sunday.

The programme's global renown is a huge source of pride in Bogota, helping transform a city blighted by guerilla and paramilitary violence in the 1980s and 1990s into a Latin American capital of cool.

"Ciclovia is part of Bogota's soul," said Mr Camilo Ramirez, a migration specialist, as he and his wife Anny Garcia jogged down the street behind their bike-riding children, aged five and 12.

"This is what keeps me alive," said Mr Jhon Lozano, a spry 89-year-old cycling fanatic, who leaves home at 4.30am each Sunday to meet friends along the route.