By Susmita Adsul
A recent event in Mumbai on World Environment Day organized by Mumbai Police opened up the Bandra-Worli sea link for cycling for a day, which is otherwise exclusively meant for cars. More than 5000 cycling enthusiasts participated in the cycle rally.
The citizens’ enthusiasm indicates the city’s demand for cycling infrastructure. The current city infrastructure and development projects mainly involve projects like road widening, flyovers and new road constructions, making way for more vehicles. Despite decades of focusing on developing infrastructure suitable for motorized ways of transport, walking and cycling continue to be robust ways of first and last-mile connectivity.
Non-motorized mode of transport like walking and cycling is recently gaining a lot of importance in Global South, especially in the metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi after the Covid’19 pandemic. The pandemic has demanded that urban mobility should be human-centric. Like the ‘Cycle Chala City Bacha’ initiative, there are various initiatives in the country to promote cycling as a mode of transport. But currently, the infrastructure needed to promote cycling is not provided by the city administration. Hence such initiatives exist as a one-day event and are unable to transform into a way of life.
A study conducted in Lüleburgaz in Turkey highlights three important aspects of creating a bicycle-inclusive city, named as the hardware, software and orgware. The hardware consists of physical infrastructure, safe crossings, bicycle parking and bicycle rental schemes. The software is the needed education, awareness and communication related to the health and other benefits of using cycling as an active mode of transport. Lastly, the orgware, which consists of the inclusion of cycling in national and local mobility regulations, provision of sufficient budget for cycling infrastructure and making standards for cycling infrastructure. If these three aspects work in tandem with each other, it can foster the use of bicycles for daily commuting.
With increased awareness about cycling within the administration, cycling can be seen as a tool to improve the city holistically.
Susmita Adsul is an Urban Designer at Urban World Consulting