Ways to Retain Cycling As Forever Normal
Azra Khan and Swarna Dutt, WRI India The impossible has already happened and slowly, it is becoming the new normal. With cases of COVID-19 reaching 4 million mark in India, cities continue averting public transport and big investment project like metros and monorails. Also, public spaces are closed to citizens and recreational activities are becoming prey to social distancing norms, affecting a common urban commuter. Amid this all, there is one ray of hope. The pandemic has resurrected cycling. With social distancing becoming the new norm, cycling seems to be the one stop mobility solution for all commute troubles. Though India has had an age-old tradition of cycling, in the last few decades with the advent of motorization it has undergone a decline. Under the current norms, urban cycling is gaining popularity sheerly out of necessity and begs the question: Is this surge temporary? Would we go back to the “old normal” once our spatial inhibitions are lifted? The challenge to mainstream cycling in Indian cities is not new, but the pandemic has given the opportunity to convert this temporary surge in cycling to a sustained new normal. Following are the six broad points under consideration. Modifications in Urban planning and Development Control Regulations: Growth pattern of Indian cities is characterized by proliferation, leading to sprawls, which is further accompanied by disjointed road infrastructure. Change in urban planning legislation to promote planned redevelopment and peripheral land augmentation needs to be taken up by states. This would ensure singular mode travel and better connectivity. Similarly, reforms pertaining to Development Controls Regulations related to streets and buildings have indirect impact on the cyclists and pedestrians. Granularity is mostly ignored in street design process and absence of inactive building facades creates an isolated experience. Opportunities to observe other people is something that incentivizes the walker and cyclists to move through the environment. Policy and Welfare Schemes: Transportation policies must support a socio-cultural shift towards cycling. Absence of narratives on cycling policies in the larger development discourse has led to cycling missing out on a clear stratagem. Welfare schemes for gender parity, support to people from the lower economic classes and financial incentive driven schemes for recreational cyclists can play a crucial role in beguiling varying target population towards regular usage of cycle. Some tried and tested initiatives by state governments like Saraswati Cycle Yojana, Sabboj Sathi and Bicycle to Girls have been instrumental in protecting the rights of education for young girls. Similarly, schemes like Cycle to Work and Cycling Kilometric Allowance encourages the employees to cycle to their workplaces. Also, policy driven initiatives to discourage hectoring of motorized vehicle users, through cycle friendly parking regulations and taxations is needed immediately. Equitable mode of commute: Indian cities are dynamic in nature, with varying road users. The cycling community witnesses vast variations of users with uneven distribution across genders, age groups and economic classes. Presently, the captive users comprise of gendered livelihood based cyclists, who belong to the lower economic strata and are lost in the city’s bigger picture. Women cyclists are mostly confined to recreational cycling and invisible in the livelihood section. Similarly, a diminishing spectrum of surviving cyclists are school going children. With the increase in crashes related to cycling of children, the mode has been labeled as unsafe. It is time to include the needs and preferences of under-represented groups to make cycle a mode for all. The re-emergence of Urban Cycling due to COVID-19 is a blessing in disguise and Indian cities should consider on plans to do away with skewed perceptions and make bigger investments to make this new normal, sustainable. There is also an opportunity for cycling advocates to model more inclusive forms of cycling development. It is long overdue to listen to residents – all groups of them – when redesigning city mobility. What we majorly lack is One Collective Voice, which is essentially the human infrastructure of cycling. An organized, cycling advocating group comprising of different local support groups, international think tanks and manufacturing industry, that presents a clear request and makes the case for achievable goals with broad benefits to the community is hard for an elected official to ignore. Excerpts from wri-india.org
Tags : Interviews urban planning WRI India Cycling Ways Retain Forever Normal Azra Khan Swarna Dutt