Smart cities to get cycling-friendly: MoHUA

The housing and urban affairs ministry has launched the India Cycles4Change Challenge, an initiative to support smart cities to implement cycling-friendly projects in response to the COVID-19. The portal will be launched on July 10 In the first phase, 10 cities will be selected and will receive technical support from the Centre and also a reward of Rs 1 crore each. The demand for personalised form of transport has gone up as a response to COVID-19 and as a result several countries around the world are now embracing quick and temporary cycling interventions. Milan is in the process of transforming 35 km of streets to pedestrian and cyclist priority lanes while Paris is creating 650 km of pop-up cycle-ways. Britain has decided to invest £2 billion in cycling and walking in response to the coronavirus. In addition to creating extensive cycling-networks through low-cost interventions like pop-up cycle lanes and traffic-calmed or non-motorised zones, cities could launch programmes such as community-led cycle rental schemes that increase the availability of cycles to citizens and promote the usage of cycling through public events and outreach, transport experts said. The India Programme of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) will be the knowledge partner of the Smart Cities Mission to assist the Mission in conducting this challenge and guiding cities in developing and implementing their proposals.