The city only has just under six kilometers of cycling lanes, which is not nearly enough for a place that is desperate to find ways out of its mobility mess. Cycling, world’s chillest, greenest and healthiest way to beat the menace posed by pollution from vehicles, is struggling for takeoff in Bengaluru because efforts towards growing a pedaling culture have failed. Is there a way out?
The zoomed into the Outer Ring Road (ORR) of Bangalore show neat bike tracks with huge barricades on their sides. These pop-up bicycle paths were made as an open statement to every bicycler who would see them.
But the development never happened at all. Immediately “cycling to work” became the new cool for office workers who had been used to buses and cars; an enormous metro pillar rose right through those distinctly separate pathways. The bus priority lane was also left without any barricades on the ORR too. There are still some crazy cyclists who risk riding along these small stretches that are disconnected from each other but devoid of such barricades.
These bollards between motorways and cycle tracks had to stay in place, increased and improved upon.
FOR AN EPISODE
Moreover, cycling is more than just mobility; it provides a way to feel and experience the city in its most direct and personal ways. You can suddenly step out of your car and ride a bicycle – you will see that there are no trees here, no shade, lots of problems around you. However, this opens up opportunities for meeting small business owners and tasting some local flavor.
Cycling to the Office?
It may seem impossible, but hundreds of people in Bengaluru have overcome numerous challenges related to traffic congestion on their way to work. One of them is Shilpi Sahu who works for a multinational corporation commuting between Sarjapur Road and Whitefield. ‘I’ve been riding for over ten years now—it’s mainly for work purposes or errands—around 10-11km per holiday.’ she says.
Cycling to Work
At least in 2010-11 when she started with her cycle commute, it was not an easy task. She says: “My ride went through ORR as well as interior roads within Marathahalli and Whitefield. The unpredictable traffic would sometimes get us stuck for thirty minutes or even more. Then I got used to it as traffic worsened over time, finding cycles friendly routes through some lakes,” she said. However hard it might be starting from scratch nowadays, ”I am just used!”
The years Shilpi spent on makeshift lanes taught her what was likely to go wrong over the long haul…”Lanes protect cyclists somewhat because they shield them from trucks or cars that come close by.” She explains: “However, these bike lanes are just window dressing. They still look like roads with accumulated dirt on them. When those lanes were maintained back then at ORR, maintenance was poor until they disappeared.”
The Way Forward
Accordingly she adds that ‘lanes cannot exist for only 100m before vanishing; it defeats the purpose. Proper planning should have a network, intersections that are linked with each other and who should give way to whom. Then some enforcement needs to be there so that lanes are not misused; but most of all, those lines must be hard concrete ones. She comments, “Nobody cares about plastic bollards. Within one week it will vanish.”
Cycle parking infrastructure is important in offices for facilitating bicycle commuting. Shilpi says that her office has around fifty people who cycle to work regularly. The parking lots at the office complex also have proper signage. They even made gamification of green commuting possible through monthly ride challenges. People rewarded include those riding the longest distances per month. Moreover, City employees can access flexible options for purchasing bicycles with tax benefits.
Because of this, some avid cyclists are turning non-motorized office commutes into something fascinating. Sathya’s Urban Morph has an alternative mode cycling commute gamification tech platform called AltMo that enables companies and individuals to clock miles, measure carbon footprint and participate in challenges against others.
Office Commute Tracking
In conclusion, Qualcomm has the highest number of riders on the leaderboard at 8,043 and 1,74k rides covering 1,63k km distance ridden by riders affiliated with any other company (figure 10). The top ranked company here is Qualcomm on whose behalf its 345 workers completed a total of 19,853 cycling rides equivalent to an over-lapping distance of 123 kilometers (figure 11). With thirty-five percent employee participation rate in this activity Texas Instruments is second on this list.
The AltMo data demonstrates that 81 registered riders have completed 694 rides and covered a total distance of 6,517 kms. They saved around 704 litres of fuel. The latest data shows that the cyclists have taken rides to 35 stations.
There are all indications that office-commute cyclist community is growing. In an internal survey conducted by a city-based company, it was found that nearly 55% were ready to cycle at this moment itself while the remaining half were apprehensive about the traffic. Safety experts say that if the government clears footpaths and cycle paths properly with enforcement then this green mobility option will get a huge boost.
Tracking cyclists pedalling the last mile to Metro Stations in Bengaluru, AltMo shows that 81 registered riders have completed 694 rides covering a total of 6,517 km, saving 704 litres of fuel.
Active Urban Greenways
For policy push what has to be done is progressing with The Active Mobility Bill and realizing CMP’s vision of putting forth 600kms. Sathya says “we need”, as per him we must imagine having Active Urban Greenways covering up to six hundred kilometers across the city starting from a seventy five kilometer north-south corridor as well as another seventy five kilometer east-west corridor by beginning there and seeing how it goes. These could be imagined as transport highways for cycling, with connections to Metro, suburban and bus stations along the way.
