A bicycle is perhaps every human being’s first love and yet the first experience of a motorbike often relegates these love stories to the backyard.
On a global scale, some cities are years or even decades ahead of others in the breadth and vitality of their cycling communities.
Most people will immediately associate “cycling city” with Copenhagen or Amsterdam. The common denominators for these cities are a realisation of the potential of cycling as transport, investment in infrastructure and a desire to make cities better. Conversely, a city like Bhubaneswar doesn’t exactly come across as “bicycle-friendly” and is unlikely to do so anytime soon.
But then, when was the last time you did use a bicycle? Ask that to anybody in Bhubaneswar and you are likely to be rewarded with silence.
On the other hand, the silence does hold answers. What is it that makes some cities so attractive for cycling, while others lag behind? What unique qualities do cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam possess that Bhubaneswar is still struggling to emulate?
Perhaps, the reason why there are few cyclists in Bhubaneswar, as well as in many other cities, is that most people are not comfortable sharing space, on just two wheels, with fast-moving cars, autos, two-wheelers, buses or trucks.
Simply put, most streets are designed for automobiles, or, basically, cars. Whether it’s the driveways or parking spots lining the roads of city centres, everything is designed to make traveling by car easy, while sparing little thought for cyclists.
On an average, half of all car journeys in Bhubaneswar are less than 10km long. Which means, an intelligent city transport system should have focused on cycling, walking and public transport rather than cars, which are an inefficient, polluting, dangerous mode of transport.
Yet, over the years, Bhubaneswar added more roads and space for cars than bicycles. So, it is no surprise that the city is choking with cars and their parking spaces.
In Bhubaneswar, for instance, most roads don’t have separate cycle lanes, barring a few ceremonial lanes that vanished as soon as the Men’s Hockey World Cup ended, forget a specially designed bicycle network the kind one would see in Amsterdam or Stockholm or Barcelona. Even Colombia’s Bogota has built over 300km of “greenways” or protected bicycle routes, separated from the other roads by trees, evidence that in some parts of the world a citizen on a $30 bicycle is as important as one in a $30,000 car.
When discussing the subject with people who are less optimistic about the bicycle’s urban mode share potential, usually just one reason is cited for cycling’s enviable success in Amsterdam and Copenhagen – Those cities are flat and weather-wise suitable.
While the topography of a city undeniably impacts a bicycling community, it doesn’t make or break it. After all, those who want to ride a cycle will do so, hills or no hills.
What matters isn’t whether or not one is going to get a little workout on the daily commute but whether one is going to be safe, supported, and comfortable on a ride, as Bhubaneswar is mostly flat when it was planned but its expansion brought some terrain beyond its urban core.
One often wonders why people don’t cycle to their workplace in Bhubaneswar. Excuses range from the pouring rain, heat wave, humidity, dry weather, less of winter to more of summer.
While Amsterdam has, on an average, 187 days of rain per year, Copenhagen hovers to around or below freezing point for three months a year, with plenty of snowfall to make things all the more difficult. And yet, they do pedal.
Wet or hot or cold weather might impact ease of cycling, but it certainly doesn’t make it impossible. With a few adjustments to gear and wardrobe, one can feasibly commute on cycle all the year round in even the least agreeable of climates. In fact, if climate was what mattered the most for bicycling, then Bhubaneswar would have been the most bicycle-friendly city on this planet.
Around 30 per cent of commuters, both formal & informal, do cycle to work in Bhubaneswar and the figure is one of the highest in India, despite the worst temperatures and heavy rainfalls.
If Bhubaneswar wants to take its commitment to cycling seriously, then it has to throw its weight behind cycle infrastructure and build bicycling into every facet of the urban transportation system.
Unfortunately, what keeps many in Bhubaneswar off cycling is that when they go to gardens in the morning or evening their cycles get stolen. If they go to star hotels they are told that cyclists are not allowed in. Neither is there provision for cycle parking there.
If people go to their workplace on a cycle their office does not encourage it. Also, those driving cars are either careless or downright hostile to cyclists. No wonder, cycling remains a non-starter.
Therefore, before investing in cycle lanes, authorities concerned need to understand where the shoe is likely to pinch. Else, it would end up being a huge investment that will elicit no response.
However, things are beginning to change for the better, as the United Nations last year designated June 3, two days ahead of World Environment Day, as International World Bicycle Day.
Similarly, under the Smart City mission, Bhubaneswar is planning to build 140km of exclusive bicycle lane and introduce a bicycle-sharing programme.
Cities across the globe, from New York to Sydney and Vienna to Bhubaneswar, are working towards bringing the benefits of non-motorised transport to the wider public.
Just ahead of the Men’s Hockey World Cup in 2018, Bhubaneswar introduced public bicycle-sharing to serve as a good supplement to mass transit, such as the City Bus service.
About 2,000 public bicycles were placed at stations. Users can rent these using mobile apps, facilitating transfers to every corner of the central city.
The bicycle-sharing system initiated by Bhubaneswar Smart City Mission may expand to the whole of the city’s Municipal Corporation territory in future and encourage commuters to shift from motorised to cycling mobility.
There was a sudden rush among people to ride these shared bicycles and upload photographs on social media.
Introduction of the programme and images on social media did have an impact on social behavior, besides leading to improvement in cycling facilities.
Sharing of bicycles is not a new concept. Rather it was in practice for long. However, it was perhaps waiting to catch on till a better technology was developed, which could provide real-time information about the programme, spot the bicycle and help safeguard against theft.
In 2004, only 11 cities had adopted bicycle-sharing, but today over 1,500 bicycle-sharing services run in over 70 countries across five continents.
However, bicycle-sharing in Bhubaneswar is not as attractive as is being projected.
Apart from being under-used, bicycle-sharing options are expanding slowly, faced with sluggish and complicated planning procedures.
Also, bicycle-sharing can create political friction if local governments are unwilling to forsake street-parking space for bicycle stations.
The plan to establish a bicycle way of life in Bhubaneswar faces tremendous challenges, like changing the mentality of people who are not accustomed to this mode of transport. Also, they may not understand that bicycle-sharing is meant for first- and last-kilometre connectivity and not an alternative for not owning a bicycle.
It seems the day is not far when the city’s highways will be traded off for bicycle routes like in Seoul, Maastricht, London. We may soon see children cycling to schools, people pedalling to their offices and even mothers overcome the fear of cycling. Let us make a beginning this World Bicycle Day by ensuring that more and more bicycles are visible in Bhubaneswar.
]The author is an urban planner]
[Disclaimer: The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent that of the web portal.]
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