Most of the Indian cities are suffering from problems of severe air pollution and traffic congestion

Cycling

Subhash Madireddy

Most of the Indian cities are suffering from problems of severe air pollution and traffic congestion. The urban population is growing at a much higher rate than manageable due to changing economy and aspiration of people. Thanks to improving purchasing power of citizens and technological developments, motor vehicle prices have come down in real terms. Unfortunately this had lead to problems of severe air pollution and traffic congestion in the cities. For instance in Bangalore during peak time average speed of traffic is less than 10 KMPH. Growing level of poisonous gases like Carbon Monoxide and Nitrous Oxide is degrading the quality of life in the garden city.

Promoting cycling and providing good public transportation can solve most of these problems. This report looks at the benefits of cycling and how biking culture can be promoted.

Benefits of cycling

Health Benefits:

Most of the city dwellers are suffering from obesity due sedentary life style. Commuting to work by cycle can provide the physical exercise needed to keep one fit.

Some amount of physical exhaustion is very much necessary to maintain sound mental health. Research shows that sedentary life style increases the risk of mental depression.Benefits to Community:

Vehicular pollution is considered to be the most significant sources of urban pollution. Most of the car trips are found to be less than 4 KMs in many Indian cities. If these cars trips are substituted by bicycle it can significantly improve the air quality in the cities.

Cycling can also prevent the problem of traffic congestion and improve the quality of city life. In addition, it has very few parking problems. Ironically bicycle can make the journey quicker in crowded cities due to the ease of parking. Apart from cost advantages it is also environmental-friendly. My personal experience in Bangalore shows that cycling can be much faster than traveling by car during peak traffic time.Why Cycling Culture is going down?

1. Many people perceive cycle as poor mans vehicle. So they avoid cycling due to prestige issues.

2. Perception of time saving3. Growing culture of laziness4. Many people perceive that cycling on Indian roads is not safe5. Affordability of motor bikes due to increasing disposable incomes and easy availability of financing facilities.Ways to promote biking cultureMarketing Efforts

1. Organize cycle rallies regularly in cities. Get media coverage of them through participation of celebrities like cricketers, movie stars and ministers etc Cycling should be seen as a symbol of youth and energy rather than poverty.

2. Distribute T-shirts with slogans like Cycle For Health to promote cycling among corporate employees and college pass outs.

3. Posters in Notice boards of companies and hoardings near traffic signals saying how cycling could have prevented their waiting at that signal for so much time.

Design Changes

Several design innovation occurred recently in cycle designs. There are bikes with batteries that get charge when the cycle is moving down hill and releases that energy when moving uphill. Gear cycles can make cycling easier and enjoyable. With a good dynamo it is possible to have feature like mobile charging on cycle. However all these systems are not robust enough. Users get frustrated due to frequent maintenance requirements. If design innovations can address these problems, it can help in promoting biking culture. BSA recently launched a foldable cycle that can fit in a bag. However it was priced at close to 8000/-. Government can consider giving subsidies to such products due to huge positive externalities associated with them.

Changes in RoadsSeparate lanes for cyclists should be provided on an experimental basis in a few cities and see if that can encourage biking. Pavements can be designed in such a way that cyclists can travel easily on them without troubling the pedestrians.