Civic body to promote cycling in Kakinada

Enters into an MoU with AIBF to set up and operate Public Bicycle Sharing system

Students form a major part of the bicyclists in Kakinada.

Bicycle stations that let out non-motorised two-wheelers to the general public and exclusive tracks along the arterial roads for the safe passage are soon going to be a reality in the city.

As part of the ‘Smart City’ initiatives, the Kakinada Municipal Corporation is keen on encouraging more and more denizens to switch over to the ‘green’ mode of transportation to minimise air pollution from the motor vehicles in this industrial city.

With the civic body entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the All India Bicycling Federation (AIBF) to set up and operate the ‘Public Bicycle Sharing’ system all over the city, works are in progress to launch the pilot project within three months from now. Once the project is launched, individuals need not depend on the auto-rickshaws, the lone mode of transportation to travel within the city, but use the bicycles that will be available vastly.

It is interesting to note that among the ‘Smart Cities’ declared by the Central government, Kakinada has a huge potential for promoting the bicycling, as over 25,000 of its 3.5 lakh population have already been using bicycles in its day-to- day life. Since the city is well planned and the roads are flat, bicycling is not going to be a tedious task for the public, hence more and more people can give a try.

“The agreement involves no financial transactions, as the AIBF is keen on raising funds from different sources such as International Green Funds, banks, government and non-government organisations to procure bicycles and to maintain them. On its part, the KMC is laying exclusive tracks for the bicycling and build bicycle stations,” says Municipal Commissioner S. Aleem Basha.

In the first phase, the civic body is developing the tracks in major parks such as Rajah Tank, Boats Club and the Netaji Park and the idea is to build a circuit among these three parks for the convenience of the bicyclists. Subsequently, the tracks will be extended to the residential areas such as Ramaraopeta and Gandhi Nagar.

“Students form major part of the bicyclists in the city and even those who pursue engineering and medicine are riding the trendy ones,” observes V. Srinivasa Rao, a bicyclist and lecturer in English from the Pithapuram Rajah Government Degree College.

“The AIBF has been promoting bicycling all over the country and a member of the Brazil-based World Cycling Alliance. Since smart mobility is a part of the government’s Smart Mission, we are here to promote bicycling in the city,” says D.V. Manohar, chairman of the federation.