BBMP plans to introduce cycle-sharing in Bengaluru

June 30, 2017 05:37 pm | Updated 09:22 pm IST - Bengaluru

Under the initiative, citizens will be able to hop off the metro and hope on a bicycle.

Under the initiative, citizens will be able to hop off the metro and hope on a bicycle.

If all goes well, citizens may soon be able to hop off the metro and ride a bicycle to get to their destination. The BBMP and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport have started working towards a public bicycle-sharing system, similar to the Trin Trin project in Mysuru. Areas in the central business district as well as metro stations are likely to get the first docking stations, DULT officials have said.

According to BBMP officials, the civic body and the DULT will put in place the infrastructure and dedicated cycling tracks after identifying suitable areas, while the manufacturer is expected to provide the bicycles.

“A final survey has been completed and the project is before the State government for clearance,” said Special Officer for DULT N. Murali Krishna. “We are not waiting for ideal situation of creating lanes and then introducing cycles. For instance, cycle sharing is feasible in the Cubbon Park surroundings without waiting for dedicated lanes. We are identifying footpaths and government land where dedicated tracks can come up,” he added.

BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said the focus was on providing last-mile connectivity to metro stations. “We will be looking at commute to IT parks in Whitefield from nearest metro stations,” said Mr. Prasad.

Sathya Sankaran, co-founder of the civic NGO Praja RAAG, who is a proponent of cycling, said a public cycle-sharing system was extremely important to reduce traffic congestion. “It is important to flood the city with cycles. Shanghai alone has one lakh cycles under its public bicycle system,” said Mr. Sankaran.

The Trin Trin project was launched in Mysuru on June 4 and 450 bicycles have been made available in the city initially. Under the project, citizens can pick a bicycle from one of the 48 docking stations across the city and drop them off at another.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.