Bicycle to act as instrument of change in post-COVID-19 era

Cycling is undoubtedly one of the most sustainable modes of transportation having huge environmental and economic benefits. Leaders across the globe are anticipating, that ‘the world on two wheels’ might become a trend in the post-COVID-19 era, even without active campaigns.

Kolkata: In early May, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the UK parliament that the near future “should be a new golden age for cycling”. Remember the popular Hero cycle campaign: “Road Pe Dikhegi Tabhi to Chalegi”, about two years ago, which was targeted to bring cycles back on road and the need for separate cycling lanes? Now, of course, there are signs that ‘the world on two wheels’ is becoming a trend in the post-COVID-19 era – even without active campaigns.

There is no wonder that people would prefer to bike to their workplaces rather than availing public transport in this age of social distancing. The European Parliament, for example, has issued a memo urging employees to avoid public transport: “Walk or bike or, as a last resort, use your private car.” The World Health Organisation also has advocated the use of cycling to limit physical contact.

Cycling is undoubtedly one of the most sustainable modes of transportation having huge environmental and economic benefits. Bicycles were encouraged in the past to combat the deadly air pollution. However, given the time people spend on travelling and without maintaining a safe distance from each other, the dynamics of transportations might change now, at least partially.

In order to maintain adequate social distancing in the post-pandemic era, Delhi Metro will require 6-times increase in services, Mumbai’s suburban railway needs a 14-16 times expansion, and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation needs an additional fleet of 24,000 buses. With public transport capacity reduced, the roads in big cities, in particular, needs some suitable alternative. And ‘cycling’ may emerge as an ‘ideal’ solution in such a situation.

‘Ideal’ but not quite ‘easy’ though. Clearly, an extensive network of bikeways, separate from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians, is needed for the safe and smooth functioning of bicycles. Extensive interurban bike-path networks exist in countries like Denmark and the Netherlands. The ‘Fietspad’ or Bicycle Path in the Netherlands is logically constructed to link shops, housing, stations, schools, workplaces for everyday cycling.

Covid-19 has triggered a worldwide initiative for ‘Thabhi to Chalegi’, indeed. New York added 40 miles of cycles lanes to its network, Bogota added 76km for cycles overnight, Auckland removed on-street car parking to build 17km of temporary bike-lanes, Milan is in the process of transforming 35km of streets to pedestrian and cyclist priority lanes, Paris is creating 650km of pop-up cycle-ways, Britain has decided to invest £2 billion in cycling and walking, and many cities on this planet have either set up temporary cycling lanes or expanded their existing ones.

Things are moving in India too, with cities like Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and New Delhi have been drawing up substantial plans to ensure non-motorised, eco-friendly transport. The Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has launched the ‘India Cycles4Change Challenge’ to support smart cities to implement cycling-friendly projects in response to the Covid-19, with 10 cities in the first phase.

Amid the worldwide consciousness, public bike-share companies are reporting a huge surge in usage in major cities, and many bicycle makers are having big spikes in their sales, some of the bicycle makers are, in fact, seeing ‘unlimited demand’ since the pandemic began. Many governments are also encouraging people to buy bicycles. In Italy, for example, government’s post-lockdown stimulus included a €500 ‘bici bonus’ rebate for up to 60% of the cost of a bike for the residents of cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.

The French government is providing vouchers of €50 for the repair of a bicycle. Various local authorities are introducing incentives as well. For example, the Lyon Metropolitan Region of Frace planned to give a purchase subsidy of €500 to buyers of an electric bicycle, folding bike, or cargo bike. Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, has also planned to provide cash incentives for the purchase of a new bicycle.

With mixed land-use patterns and with about 60% of trip lengths in urban India being shorter than 5km, there is tremendous potential for the use of bicycles in Indian cities as well. However, the bicycle revolution is not so easy in every city though. In India, bicycles are more used in cities having a population less than 2 million, and share of bicycle trips declines with the population of the city. A busy city like Kolkata, for example, has just over 7% area as roads, and setting up separate bikeways seems very difficult. Also, there is possibly no denying that many cyclists in the streets in this part of the world neither understand the simplest traffic rules nor do they think traffic rules apply to them.

There are further limitations in the scope though. One of my British friends, a professor at the Warwick University, commutes a few miles to the train station from his suburban house by bicycle, carries the bicycle with him in the train to Coventry Rail Station – approximately four miles from the campus, and then bikes to the University campus from Coventry station. Can we carry bicycles in our local trains like this?

Still, the urgency for ‘Road Pe Dikhegi’ was possibly never so relevant before.

(Written by Atanu Biswas, Professor at Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata)