Cycling enthusiasts, including celebrity cyclists who were part of the Tour of Nilgiris (TfN) that passed through Mysuru on Sunday, have made out a case for the creation of cycling infrastructure to attract more people to cycling.
Even though Mysuru is the first city in the country to have its own Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) system (Trin Trin), Alexi Grewal, 58, an Indian American who won the Olympic Gold in road cycling in 1984, said better cycling infrastructure including cycling paths would help attract more commuters.
The cycling community can grow by 10 to 20 times with cycle paths and cyclist-friendly laws, he said, citing the example of a country like The Netherlands, where about 75% of the population is said to use cycle for commuting.
‘Organised chaos’
Mr. Grewal identified safety of the cyclist as one of the biggest challenges for promotion of cycling in India. He said the “organised chaos” on Indian roads was not ideal for cycling.
However, he said he enjoyed cycling in Mysuru where the traffic on the roads is usually thinner than in Bengaluru. “Getting out of Bengaluru itself was a challenge for the [TfN] cyclists,” said Mr. Grewal, whose hails from Ludhiana.
Vivek Radhakrishnan, a charity cyclist who is part of the TfN contingent, said the “one-metre rule” in most cyclist-friendly countries bans motorists from coming closer than one metre to a cyclist. “While driving, motorists have to make sure that there is at least one metre between their vehicle and the cyclist he or she passes.” Also, cyclist-friendly countries have rules that absolve cyclists of wrongdoing in the event of a road mishap. If a cyclist is involved in an accident, the motorist will be deemed the offender, said Mr. Radhakrishnan, who is riding to raise funds for Iksha Foundation, a charitable trust that focusses on Retinoblastoma or eye cancer.
The authorities in Mysuru are planning to create cycle lanes on a few identified roads to facilitate Trin Trin cyclists. Cycles are borrowed from the 45 PBS docking stations about 1,000 times each day. Almost 7,500 people have registered as members of PBS to use the cycles. Trin Trin was launched in Mysuru in the first week of June.
