Cycling is an activity performed by millions of people around the world, with estimates suggesting global sales of more than 100 million bicycles each year over the past several years. While in certain countries it is a deeply ingrained way of life, in some others it is almost absent for various reasons, whether it’s the weather, terrain, or the lack of safety and infrastructure.
Current status of cycling in India
Like in most parts of the world, the usage of cycles is quite common in India, with surveys indicating that roughly 20% of the population uses cycling as a primary medium of transport, in both rural and urban areas. People in urban areas also look at cycling as a recreational activity, though it is often restricted to the more affluent segments of the population. For the low-income segments of society, cycling is mostly a very cost effective solution for moving around.
Considering that cycling is an activity that cuts across class lines and is so common in India, one would expect that it would also be supported well by the existing public infrastructure. Unfortunately though, that is not quite the case - cycles are used despite any dedicated or well-maintained cycling infrastructure - the general public just accepts the status quo and goes on with their cycling activities, probably because there is no collective expression of demand for such infrastructure. This also means that many more people would be likely to use bicycles for commuting if an enabling environment was provided.
As India has urbanized rapidly in the wake of the 1991 economic liberalization reforms and subsequent government policies favouring urbanization, its approach to cities has prioritized motorized vehicles over pedestrian movement and cycling, and it can be argued that it is quite a sub-optimal approach to urban life. While cycling in rural areas can also be discussed, they have challenges which, arguably, are of a higher priority than cycling infrastructure - so this post will be restricted to cycling infrastructure in urban India. This post won’t go into bicycle touring (a la EuroVelo) either, as the main perspective of this post is a utility-oriented one rather than a recreational one. E-bikes are also used in some parts of the world nowadays, but considering the maturity of infrastructure required for their operation, this post shall not venture into e-bikes either.
Fundamental reasons for interventions
The basic idea of providing decent cycling infrastructure can be viewed from the lens of “externalities” - in the current situation, there are too many polluting and indiscriminately honking personal cars on the roads in urban India, and those have a significant negative impact on the quality of air we breathe and our peace of mind i.e. they impose hidden “costs” on society.
If people are encouraged to cycle more frequently, it would lead to a drop in the usage of motorized vehicles - and thus a considerable reduction in air pollution and noise levels within cities. Moreover, there is hardly any doubt that an increase in people’s cycling activities would lead to better public health outcomes on average, as more people become fitter as a result of cycling more often.
There could be some positive spillover effects as well - like people taking up cycling as a recreational activity because of its becoming a habit - and that leading to the building of communities around cycling, thus enhancing social cohesion, and possibly (maybe optimistically) even bridging the class divide to some extent.
One can think of several other reasons from the perspective of such “positive externalities” - but it is abundantly clear that (at least in theory) there is a great case for the government to step in and focus on creating good cycling infrastructure in Indian cities and towns, in the form of dedicated cycle tracks, cycle parking spots, cycle-friendly public transport, and so on.
Pathways to implementation
The best thing about this simple idea is that there is no need for inventing or reinventing the wheel! There are several major cities of varying sizes all around the world that have undergone a process of transformation to become cycle-friendly in their own special ways. Bogota is a particularly good case study in this context - while there are considerable differences between Bogota and cities in India, the bottom line is that Bogota is a significantly large city of 8 million inhabitants, and the approaches taken to make it bicyle-friendly can certainly be considered for many Indian cities. Paris is yet another example of a car-heavy city being ambitiously pushed towards becoming among the most bicycle-friendly in the world in the next few years. Even though the local politics in India is very different from that of Colombia or France, there is a lot to learn from these cities as far as a cycling transformation is concerned.
There are plenty of approaches that can be taken address this issue, though they’re not mutually exclusive and can be applied in combination:
- Partial demarcation of less frequently used roads to indicate bicycle lanes: In some countries like the Netherlands, nearly every road barring highways has a bicycle lane running alongside it. While it would be highly desirable in cities in India as well, realistically speaking, it’s not feasible at the moment - whether it’s because of space constraints or poor driver discipline. So a good starting point would be to identify roads that are not heavily used, and to then demarcate clearly a part of either one or both directions as cycling lanes - but in a manner such that the cycling route makes logical sense. It could, for instance, be started as a pilot project between a residential complex and a nearby school via inner roads, and then depending on the response, slowly expanded to other areas and destinations.
An example of a demarcated cycling path, clearly indicated using a different colour
- Conversion of some stretches to bicycle-only sections: This could be a bit controversial in many Indian cities since they are not well-planned, but such radical solutions, if designed properly, can actually lead to great outcomes. For instance, in many areas there are multiple routes possible to get from A to B - and as an experiment the municipality could convert the least-used route to be exclusively for bicycles. If it is seen that there is a considerable increase in bicycle traffic along that section, it means that people do see some value in exclusive bicycle paths even though there are competing options to travel between the same points.
- Construction of strategic bicycle + pedestrian crossings: There have been many experiments involving “skywalks”, and along similar lines, cities could experiment with the construction of certain bicycle and pedestrian paths that go over busy junctions. Considering that the load capacity requirements for such bridges are much lower than for conventional automobile bridges, their construction is much simpler, and the space usage is relatively more economical. This approach can be particularly effective in cities like Mumbai which have a great space constraint.
- Provision of subsidies or tax benefits on bicycles: To promote cycling among people, the government could have a well-designed scheme so that people are encouraged to buy a good bicycle. Considering that there is a significant variation in people’s income levels, the scheme can have various packages so that buying a bicycle seems like a good option regardless of one’s income. Some very basic calculations with regard to the cost of such schemes yield an amount that is not very high compared to the benefits that people would get by switching to cycling for their daily commute.
A exclusive cycling track next to a road
These approaches are only broad starting points - a lot more details need to be worked out before defining a policy for cycling - whether it is about the provision of accessible public parking spaces for the expected growth in number of bicycles, or modifying traffic rules to clearly define vehicle priorities at junctions. But as mentioned, they are all finer details, and it will take an iterative process of deliberations and lobbying in municipality halls before even a simple implementation of this idea sees the light of day.
Organizational requirements
What’s needed: organizations that represent the interests of cycling as a recreational and practical activity. The Cycling Federation of India does exist, but it is specifically for competitive cycling, and that’s a entirely separate activity (as a parallel, one does not need the BCCI to request their municipality to maintain a small cricket ground in the neighbourhood).
There also exist several organizations (like the ITDP) that perform research activities related to urban transformation. However, what India misses is an ECF-equivalent body - though it is not fair to compare cycling in Europe to cycling in India (whether it’s because of weather, politics, or otherwise) - the idea of establishing an umbrella organization consisting of several local organizations to represent the interests of the cycling community would certainly go a long way in bringing about a change in the cycling landscape in India.
Cannot happen without addressing major concerns
There are undoubtedly some major concerns as well when it comes to making cycling in urban India a mainstream reality:
- Driver discipline: There is no denying that there is a severe lack of traffic discipline on Indian roads, and just creating a cycling lane wouldn’t make cycle rides feel any safer - but this can be mitigated by creating separate bicycle tracks where possible, and demarcating cycle lanes on roads only in sections where there are restrictions on cars (e.g. one way roads, controlled access roads, and so on). Given that any policy change is a matter of many years, one can expect that cycling as a serious commuting option can be made vastly popular once driver discipline is improved over the years with better policies pertaining to that.
- Quality and maintenance: There are very few (read: no) cities in India that can claim to have roads that aren’t riddled with potholes after one spell of rain. Roads are either of very poor surface quality or ill-maintained, and are repeatedly pockmarked even without heavy rain. There’s a possibility that newly-constructed cycle tracks will meet the same fate - but unlike in the case of cars or buses, cycles are quite light - and hence the wear and tear of the cycle track is unlikely to be as bad. Moreover, if cycling organizations are vested with adequate powers to oversee contracts given for cycle track construction with appropriate redress mechanisms, they can actively ensure that quality standards are met.
- Supporting infrastructure: If the number of cycles is expected to go up, it also means that there needs to additional supporting infrastructure provided, whether in the form of new dedicated parking spots, adequate lighting, bicycle repair stations, accessible public transport, or any modifications to existing spaces. Without this, people wouldn’t find it worthwhile to take cycling as a realistic mode of commuting. An example highlighting the need for supporting infrastructure: a huge airport in Spain had to cease operations because there were too few passengers using it - possibly because the airport was 200 km from Madrid and without adequate access to high-speed modes of transport to get there.
An example of these concerns playing out in an undesired way can be seen in Chandigarh - even after the construction of 210 km of cycling tracks, people haven’t started cycling as much as was expected because of various concerns, whether because of improper track planning or inadequate facilities.
But it can certainly happen!
All things considered, it is reasonable to think that there is a good scope for cycling to be made a popular recreational activity and a realistic commuting option for people residing in Indian cities. A change in priorities is essental, and a mindset shift is needed to think of cycling in a serious light. There already are examples aplenty of places where cycling policies have worked out, there are good organizational structures in practice that can be applied to Indian cities, and the ever-worsening air quality and increasing rates of health problems in cities are seriously compelling reasons to really give a policy-level push to the promotion of cycling. The only major problem is a lack of vision of a cycling-oriented urban future, and that will take a fair bit of introspection among the people of urban India - they, after all, have to decide whether they aspire to commute using a Fortuner, or a Hero!