Gurgaon moves on two wheels

Hundreds in the Millennium City cycled to their workplaces as Car-Free Day and the global ‘Bike to Work’ day coincided on Tuesday.

Corporate executives, students and residents of Gurgaon took it upon themselves to cycle in a bid to reduce congestion and pollution, and promote a healthy lifestyle.

The Gurgaon Police team also cycled from the HUDA City Centre metro station to the IFFCO Chowk police station at 8 a.m.

The team was led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Balbir Singh.

Corporate groups, such as Nagarro Software, saw nearly 100 employees cycling to work.

Nagarro had designated three spots in Gurgaon as cycle pick-up points to cater to employees living in different parts of the city.

Other corporate offices under trade association NASSCOM, such as Quatrro, Genpact, Fidelity, Dell and Snapdeal among others, also had employees coming to work on cycles.

The Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) system in Gurgaon also saw a boost on Tuesday, with more than 50 cyclists renting the bicycle for commuting to work from the HUDA City Centre metro station. According to the PBS operator, this was considerably higher than usual.

“Fitness app Strava had organised a global ‘Bike to Work’ challenge on May 10, which saw participation from thousands of cyclists across the world. About 250 rides were updated from India this Tuesday. Of these, about 20 cyclists from Gurgaon had uploaded their rides.

Other riders from Gurgaon also used the app to record their commute from their residence in Gurgaon to their workplace in Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad,” said Embarq India manager (cities and transport) Sarika Panda Bhatt.