Ways to Retain Cycling As the Forever Normal

Azra Khan and Swarna Dutt – WRI India, share the views on the challenge to mainstream cycling in Indian cities. 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. 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. 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. Contextualizing global best practices and learning from developed countries Coordinated volunteer efforts can have significant results when focused locally. Similarly, effective advocacy can play a pivotal role in bringing together different stakeholders, maximizing their efforts, and increasing the outreach. In this regard an Amsterdam-based social enterprise named BYCS, has been working on focused advocacy programs in more than 100 cities globally. One of the programs is to work with cycling advocacy champions (Bicycle Mayors) from different cities. Recently, BYCS Amsterdam decentralized their global program through BYCS India Foundation. Through these efforts the focus is to bring together different stakeholders to initiate and scale ideas around cycling. This is particularly important to tie the efforts together for maximized and sustainable impact. Investing in bicycle infrastructure and bicycle supporting street design is quintessential. With a sea of infrastructural and design options, tried and tested in developed countries, Indian cities simply need to contextualize them based on local conditions like weather, user type, urban and street attributes. Adaptable and evidenced-based design strategy via tactical urbanism are the initial stepping stones, which needs to be bodied forth by permanent solutions, for best outcome. Apart from developed countries, cities from developing countries like Bogota have revitalized cycling, with the share of cycling trips increasing 10-fold in two decades. Many Latin American countries, which share similarity in mobility pattern with Indian cities are good examples to look up to for learnings.