ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of South Africa's national and local 'infrastructure-first' approach, and it argues that this narrow approach evident in Cape Town until recently may go some way to explaining the lack of significant mode shift in the city since the first walking and cycling policy. It considers the conditions beyond infrastructure that have given rise to a bicycle culture and increased mode share in cities elsewhere – Bogota and Copenhagen, in particular. The chapter provides the cautions to the cities wishing to learn from the Cape Town experience are advised to learn from the city's mistakes, too – as Cape Town itself is doing. The 2017 draft Cycle Strategy, as released for public comment in January 2017, offers little evidence of a change in direction – and its draft vision continues the narrative thread of claiming leadership in terms of bicycle planning.
