Deputy Bangkok Governor Bannasopit Mekwichai said the BMA and TCC would encourage city residents to leave their cars at homes and use bicycles or public transport instead on Friday.

She said the BMA has improved existing cycle lanes on 15 routes with a total distance of 80.4 kilometres and is currently constructing lanes on 15 more routes covering a total distance of 96.74 kilometres.

The city administration has also set up 3,379 parking stands for bicycles on footpaths and near Skytrain stations that can accommodate 19,224 bikes, and planned to set up another 1,960 stands at district offices, schools, hospitals, public parks and libraries. Altogether there will be 5,069 parking stands for 34,434 cycles across the city, Bannasopit said.

A board member of the 4,500-member TCC, Weerapan Toboonmee, said the biggest users of cycles in the city were students and parents travelling to and from schools, followed by housewives and people travelling to use public transport systems.

A survey by TCC found that the most popular bicycle lanes were in the Lat Phrao and Bang Kapi areas, as they were long-established and well-maintained, he said.

The car-free day activities start at 6am on Friday, when club members and interested city residents will cycle from various locations to gather in front of the King Rama V Statue near Suan Amporn at 10am, Weerapan said.

The cyclists will then go to the city police headquarters to thank them for providing road safety and afterwards join a public discussion on "safety in biking on city streets" at the BMA head office near the Giant Swing, he said.