People seek dedicted pathway for bicycle: Survey

 

 

 

Calling for appropriate safety measures along with a crack down on rash driving on city thoroughfares, Nagpurians expressed readiness to make a switch to cycling on a daily mode. Bi-cycles are slowly seeping into routine of citizens as it gradually transforms from just being a means of fitness to a part of daily ride to work place. A survey carried out Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) reveals that people are willing to be part of the change, ditch automobiles for cycles, provided a dedicated pathways are provided to enable cycling on end to end basis.

 

Buveneswari S, CEO, NSSCDCL, said, the survey was aimed to help improve local cycling infrastructure and on-road facilities by collecting data on cycling routes and travel patterns. With Central Government keen on pushing the transformation in urban centre through Smart Cities Mission, cycle is now no longer a fad as advantages of switch over dawns upon people. The survey results showcase that lack of safety measures on city roads is a major handicap, as it makes people unsure about the switch over. The survey was carried out under the programme Nagpur for Indian Cycles 4 Change Challenge introduced by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to quickly implement cycling-friendly initiatives in response to COVID-19. Aim of the Challenge is to help citizens and experts develop an unified vision in order to give fillip to cycling.

 

To understand views of citizens on cycling, the off-line and on-line perception survey was rolled out and same was carried out by NSSCDCL team members under the Chairmanship of Mahesh Moroney, Deputy Chief Executive Officer along with the collaborators. About 15,000 responses were received from citizens through on-line medium. Thereafter the responses was analyzed following the guidelines of the Ministry. Aarti Choudhari and Kunal Gajbhiye from E-Governance Division were the data analyst. The statistics indicates that 15,344 people responded to the survey of cycle for change and of them 83 per cent were men and 17 per cent were women. Similarly, 32 per cent respondents were in 14-19 years age group, 16 per cent in 19-35 years, 46 per cent were from 35-50 years and 5 per cent were in age group of 50 years and above . Further analysis revealed that 97 per cent male and 96 per cent female who participated in survey know how to cycle.

 

Another finding was that almost 37 per cent of respondents are using cycle for recreation and for fitness. Response from off-line survey were more exhaustive wherein citizens suggested that lack of cycle segregation is extremely unsafe. Many non-cyclists referred to rising road accidents on streets of city as major deterrent in keeping away from cycles. The unplanned infrastructure development in city emerged as big sense of dissatisfaction among respondents as they said no thought was given for needs of cyclists.

 

A common thread that emerged from citizens responses was need for a dedicated path for cycling. They also pointed need to discipline teenagers, especially bike riders who drive rashly that gives jitters. To ensure success for cycling, a strategy to ensure that all employees are made to compulsory ride a bi-cycle to work is needed. Besides another important aspect is safe and ample secure parking facilities should be in place at prominent places. A cycle track should be formed like walkers street and this could help in rapid transformation from ditching automobiles for cycle. Another important point highlighted by citizens was need to control menace of stray dogs as they pose bigger danger to cyclist. Similarly, an app based bi-cycle ride sharing system would be most helpful to citizens in undertaking the ride.