Most of the broad roads in the city, particularly the ones with medians, could soon sport bicycle lanes if the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) succeeds in its effort.
The MCC is expected to begin the process of painting the edges of the roads a distinct colour as part of the challenging task of creating bicycle lanes in an effort to promote the public bicycle sharing (PBS) initiative Trin Trin launched two months ago.
Suresh Babu, Deputy Commissioner (Development), MCC, told The Hindu that the authorities will soon draw up a list of roads with a median and wide roads without medians with limited vehicular traffic density. “We can take up the task of painting the roads to create bicycle lanes only after asphalting work ahead of Dasara is completed,” he said. The roads to sport bicycle lanes include Krishnaraja Boulevard and Vishwa Manava Double Road. “We can create bicycle lanes on other roads too that are wide and do not have much traffic flow,” Mr. Babu added.
Though the creation of bicycle lanes was not envisaged while conceiving the PBS for Mysuru, the move to create the lanes received a push after representatives from World Resources Institute (WRI) India Sustainable Cities working on integrated urban transport emphasized upon the need for creating such lanes to ensure the safety of bicycle users. Experts from WRI who participated in a recent meeting to review the functioning of Trin Trin in Mysuru referred to the higher popularity of a PBS initiative in Bhopal, where bicycle lanes assure safety of users. Though the PBS was launched in Bhopal after Mysuru, the project enjoys more popularity in the capital of Madhya Pradesh than here.
Launched in the first week of June, Trin Trin in Mysuru has attracted a total of 4,700 people, who have registered themselves for the PBS Mysuru while more than 800 persons are borrowing bicycles every day.
According to sources in Green Wheel Ride, the third party vendor, which is operating Trin Trin, the meeting also reviewed the design of the bicycles, but raised no concerns on the absence of helmets and rear-view mirrors.
“Generally, helmets are not made mandatory in PBS as it discourages users. So, the effort is to create traffic-free bicycle lanes for the users to overcome the need for helmets and rear-view mirrors,” the source added.
