The return of bicycle in modern urban jungle

Bengaluru: Speeding motorists are leading cause road mishaps. This has made some people use eco-friendly vehicles to commute every day. The return of the bicycle to the modern urban transport system, all over the world, citizens are rediscovering the benefits of cycling. The cities are responding by building the infrastructure to keep them safe. Now, in Bengaluru urban planners, architects and transport experts have come together to activate sustainable transport across the city. This program involves creating Bicycle Councillors at the BBMP ward level, Bicycle Champions at schools and colleges across the city and extending the reach of Bicycle Ambassadors for corporates via the CycleToWork platform.

In recent days, Mumbai also launched the 'Cycle Chala, City Bacha' campaign with a vision to promote cycling. "We started in Bengaluru first before lockdown, we could not do much because of this pandemic, but Mumbai went fast and launched it during lockdown itself. Now we are planning to resume our work to promote cycling and to demand the Bicycle Councillors at BBMP ward level for all 198 wards in Bengaluru. We have received more than 30 plus applications for the post of bicycle councillors. All volunteers will need to have a passion for cycling and grit to achieve the vision of making Bengaluru city CycleToWork platform. Each councillor will be required to analyse what it would take to make their wards cycling friendly. They will then engage with BBMP and other civic authorities and come up with solutions. Councillors need to come up with innovative and achievable plans to help achieve this goal" explained Sathya Sankaran, the Bicycle Mayor of Bengaluru.

Each councillor will work with the Bicycle Mayor and be supported by experienced campaigners with connections and extensive knowledge. To promote a cycling ecosystem in Bengaluru, Jhatkaa.org (campaigning organisation committed to building grassroots citizen power across India in effective and innovative ways) is also collaborating with the bicycle mayor Sathya Sankaran and looking for people with an exceptional drive to see a change in their area. Nimisha from Jhatkaa.org says "In the past few months, we have seen a surge of positive news about bicycles in the city. DULT announced that Bengaluru will have its very first Cycling District, with colour-coded cycling lanes and will work towards promoting cycling to workplaces in the city, BMTC buses introduced cycle stands on their buses. Now, its Bicycle Councillor is a unique programme which can take initiatives to promote cycling at a very local scale. It will help make our city cycle-friendly."

People who enrol to cycle to work get access to a backend dashboard which can help them monitor people in their company and help scale the program. They will also represent their company at events to promote cycling. This is an honorary position nominated based on the information provided.