Cycling – a lifestyle choice, achieving equity and fighting climate change
Like any other vehicle, bicycles require infrastructure. Fortunately, this does not imply any additional infrastructure, just demarcated bike lanes on the road, suggesting what all road users dream of: pothole-free roads. I'm just doing it.
Sameer Nazareth
My father always said that this cycle changed the lives of women in India. For him, cycling was a means of freedom and independence. It has expanded the world of opportunity for them.
Business cycles can be an elusive barometer of a country's economic development and its people's well-being. One of my earliest memories of China is a photo of a Beijing road filled with people riding bicycles. I witnessed a similar scene in his mid-1990s at Dakshinpuri, New Delhi. Residents of this resettlement colony commuted to work by bicycle. Today, this very road is full of cars. Meanwhile, bicycles have become an important personal transport option in many European countries.
In some societies, owning a car is a symbol of wealth and economic development. Using a cycle is a symbol of caring for the environment and your own health. Needless to say, improving urban infrastructure is also important.
Cycling in India straddles health, leisure and household income sources.
When we talk about health compared to cycling, it's more like commuting to the office or a long drive in the morning. Leisure, on the other hand, ranges from cycling trails on the weekends to doing it as part of a tourist activity to get to know the place. The mainstay of household finances is the fact that both men and women commute to work by bicycle.
However, considering all this, this cycle has been anointed as a means to stop climate change and is now under further pressure. This role assigned to these two wheels is challenging to say the least, given that they are competing with electric He-2 and He-4 wheels. Also, let's not forget the acquisitive mindset that likes to show off and the lack of infrastructure for the cycle to accomplish its mission. .
According to Federation of Indian Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) data for 2023, the three-wheeler sector witnessed the highest growth of 58.50% compared to bicycles and passenger cars.
The number of passenger cars sold was 3,860,268 units, an increase of 10.61% over the previous calendar year. Bicycle sales for the year increased by 9.45% compared to the previous calendar year. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply to Parliament in August 2022, said that India has over 21 billion two-wheelers and over 7 billion four-wheelers and above vehicles in the ministry's centralized database. He said it was registered.
Comparing these numbers to bicycle sales in 2023, 20.53 million bicycles were sold in 2023. However, there are at least three different segments of bikes: kids, standard, and premium. Electric bikes have become a new segment. There is an export segment that is not considered here. The bicycle market is expected to grow by 5.30% from 2024 to 2028.
However, for certain societies, bicycles are the gateway to purchasing electric two-wheelers. For example, a child who owns a bicycle will be given one at the age of 15-16. Low-income cyclers buy their bikes when their income starts to increase. The speed and zero physical strain of cycling is better than cycling because you can do more. There is an understandable and natural socio-economic progression from walking to cycling to cycling. Cycles are the first socio-economic reinforcement, but cycling can stabilize and promote socio-economic progress.
Like any other vehicle, bicycles require infrastructure. Fortunately, this does not imply any additional infrastructure, just demarcated bike lanes on the road, giving us what every road user dreams of: pothole-free roads. means.
However, a change in mindset is important. For example, motorized vehicles that do not use bike lanes. This can be difficult. One of the reasons why Delhi's bus rapid transit system failed was the refusal of single-occupant vehicles to use the public bus lanes. However, this is not surprising since it is natural for motorcycles to use sidewalks. Jumping lights come naturally to the people of this country.
Therefore, for now, the option of riding a bike in the city is only for those who are brave or are familiar with the city's roads. But that could change with India Cycles4Change, part of the SmartCity Initiative. The Smart City Initiative falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. According to the campaign's information leaflet, “Bike-friendly cities can ensure everyone has access to jobs, education and health care in a safe and affordable way, especially during the COVID-19 restrictions. This is the case for public transport users who are affected.'' Switching to cycling, even for short journeys, would generate an annual benefit of 1.8 trillion 1 trillion yen to the national economy, reducing traffic congestion and pollution. It will be reduced. Cycling can also improve your physical health and mental well-being, especially during these difficult times. ” 107 cities have signed up for this initiative.
There is much to uncover with this ambition. Without a doubt, cycles are a technology that enables many things. However, there is a chicken and egg situation here. Should we prioritize cycling infrastructure or social acceptance of cycling and other issues?
What other issues do you have regarding cycling? For example, if we are promoting cycling to school, schools should be close to where children live. But now parents either drop their children off at school, or the school arranges for buses to pick them up from different parts of the city. We also have dedicated transportation to pick up and drop off groups of children. To ensure that parents send their children to neighborhood schools, educational infrastructure needs to be similar across the board. But even if that were the case, would parents let their children ride their bikes to school if the roads were unsafe?
Then there are issues of fairness and justice. This is a familiar argument in the climate change debate. There's a difference between a wealthy person who already owns a house and a car and chooses to ride a bike, and someone who rides to work because they can't afford anything else and then buys a bike later. .
Cycling has many attractions, but the challenges to its acceptance are as diverse as the challenges faced by cyclists on India's roads.
(Samir Nazareth is a writer who writes about socio-economic and environmental issues)
