Wheels of Change

2020 has already become an immensely blamed year. Songs, memes, and grudges about how this has been a disappointing year so far. Yet, despite the cries of this being a miserable time for all (I am not defending/ sidelining any of those viewpoints here), there is a gradual and steady progress that we’ve made. Many might argue with me about it being insignificant and thus not pay heed to it, but I and a lot many people believe this is the change we needed!

Amidst the looming darkness of the spreading virus range, India has welcomed a cycling revolution! Not just to help tackle the pandemic, but to bring inclusivity, boost economic empowerment, and reduce fuel emissions dramatically. The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in collaboration with FIT India Movement and Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan have beckoned change with their Cycles4Change Challenge. According to the MHUA, India stands a chance to boost its economy by over 5 times by investing in the cycling infrastructure. 

Those In Need and Help Delhi Breathe, under the Cycles4Change initiative, organized an online #Cycle4Delhi Youth Challenge on 29th and 30th August, mainly for youth engagement, and challenged youth to come up with some strategies and recommendations for a better cycling atmosphere in Delhi. Part of the campaign was a panel discussion by some prolific cycling caretakers in the country which includes Bicycle Mayors from Mumbai, Ms. Firosa Suresh and Bangalore, Mr. Sathya Sankaran and a Non-Motorised Transport Policy expert, Ms. Aishwarya Soni. 

Ms. Soni, talked about some very critical and important cycling interventions that are being thought of presently. She emphasised on the importance of having cycle-friendly tracks and highways, neighbourhoods and road intersections that need looking after. There are many small steps that can also be taken up by the local/ state governments but perhaps a very primal act is to get the youth involved, and she beautifully outlined many ways in which youngsters can be brigadiers for change! Be it in terms of getting momentum to a drive, to evaluating progress to even scoring sponsorships!

Something that Mr. Sankaran said, stuck with me, and it was the idea that only once you start using your cycle for at least one mundane chore, you actually start saving your city! He is someone who started cycling for recreation and to improve his health but later transitioned to using it to go to his workplace every day! 

Ms. Suresh is someone who started the campaign CycleToWork back in 2012, in Mumbai and today works to enable Mumbai to become cycle-safe! A very striking point that she brought to surface was that we, as general public, cannot always blame the poor infrastructure. There has to be sufficient consumer awareness and demand to balance infrastructure and at the present moment we strongly lack there! Awareness and mindset shift, she pointed out, are the major reasons for that. 

Broadly speaking, there are two types of cyclists- Active users and those who cycle by Choice. Mostly, the active users are the people who fall in the lower strata of the society and in a survey it was found that almost half of the survey-takers felt the way they get poorly treated on the road and at traffic lights was much worse than the poor infrastructure for cyclists (16%). (Survey of Livelihood Cyclists in Delhi, CEED). 

Another major challenge we face today is that in India, we do not have any mechanism to gauge patterns when it comes to cycling. Sales are the sole indicators for that. I feel like in this department, 2020 has some good news with cycle sales sky-rocketing and breaking all previous years records. A study showed in the decade 2001-11, cycle sales dipped by almost 4% in the urban space (The Benefits of Cycling, TERI, 2018) but things are about to change for the better now! In a survey of over 1400 people, 97% said that they prefer cycling in the COVID and shall in the post-COVID times as well. 

A friend and a Rohini resident, Sanchit, went on a cycling spree this Lockdown and says he used to look forward to his early morning rides to taste a clear Delhi and soak in the majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan and Central Delhi vibes in its absolute best! “Cycling feels like meditation to me, listening to my thoughts and my breath”, clearly the joie de vivre is unmissable in Sanchit’s words here! He used this sport as a medium to catch up with his friends and enjoy riding with a bunch of other cycling enthusiasts and tracked his cycling patterns using an app called Strava, which apparently builds a community of joggers and cyclists in the region motivating all to improve further! Also, he pointed out that most of his fellow residents now own a cycle, which they previously did not.

My challenge submission did not make it to the final cut, but was given a special mention in the competition. Some of the stronger recommendations that I had made for better and healthier Delhi were:

• Pwycling: Similar to Plogging, this is picking waste from nooks and corners (wherever and whenever possible) while cycling. 

• Slow Movement Hours to be assigned by the Delhi government on certain roads to ensure safety of cyclists and to encourage cycling, to start with.

• When cycling in groups, cyclists may sing jingles to educate the non-cyclists on the road to treat and respect those on the green wheels.

• Throwing seed bombs on patches of land to foster greener pathways and curb roadside pollution.

Delhi has till date never had a Cycle Mayor, but that doesn’t mean it won’t in the future, or that it will hinder its marathon for a cleaner, breathable city. 7th September 2020 marked the first ever International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, 2020 standing tall with 5 days of clean air (thanks, corona) but the fight is long and worth fighting for! Cycles4Change is a needed push from the government but it lies on us, the people, to actually ensure it materializes to better things.

We had the ineffable and mighty Charkha for Independence, and now, Cycle Wheels to fight Climate change.

You say Cliche.

I say that works with the human brain!