Bulgarian bicycle and bicycle parts producer Velomania announced for May 31 a protest in which it says it wants to send the message to Sofia municipality that widening streets to accommodate more cars is not the right way to solve Sofia's transport problems.

"Quite the opposite: decreasing the car inflow is a sustainable decision, which would lead to a healthier life for citizens without restricting the individual freedom to move," Velomania said in a media statement.

The event in Sofia will start at 10am on General Gourko Street between Vassil Levski Stadium and the State Agency for Youth and Sports. The idea has been taken from an event that took place in the German town Muenster eight years ago. There, people gathered on bicycles, in cars and in a bus, and it was shown that 72 people on bicycles covered 90 sq m of street surface, 60 cars with 72 people took up 1000 sq m and one bus with 72 people occupied about 30 sq m.

Velomania plans to repeat this in Sofia. On May 31, at 10am the live picture will start with a picture of people on bicycles taken at 10.10am, at 10.30 a picture of people in cars and in 10.45am of people in cars.

At 11am a bicycle parade on the central streets in Sofia starts which will end at about 11.40am in Yuzhen Park (South Park), where at noon a bicycle competition for children aged betwen three and eight will start.

According to the organisers, this theme encourages local authorities to allocate part of the streets for transport modes without engines and so improve air quality. The action is also supposed to convince the Sofia citizens in the effectiveness and advantages of bicycles as a means of transport, the organisers said.