Cycling Cities is a PAN–India Movement. We aim to motivate one-third (1/3rd) of the city’s population to imbibe cycling in their lifestyle in the following five years. We believe in the universal concept that any modern city has a civilisation with their culture linked to commuting on cycle. It makes the citizen healthy, keeps the air clean, carries more people across the road, reduces the need f
or acquiring space to widen roads and thereby liberating more space which can be used for public parks, to plant fruit yielding trees, and more. It reduces government's dependency on crude oil and helps to keep the commitment to UN on the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions. Cycling Cities is not only against the dangerously increasing pollution levels or the global warming effects, but also, against the mindset of people and the myths or social stigmas related to cycling. This ambitious campaign is of the people, by the people and completely for the people, because we are living in the cities which are day by day becoming less livable for us. It is a crowd-sourced as well as a crowd-funded project to make the cycling more publicly acceptable and not just a poor man’s vehicle. How are we going to do it?
- Partnering with every school to have cycling curriculum, from kindergarten itself. To bring back the scenario where the parking space is packed with colourful cycles. Organise creative workshops with knowledge based learning about the benefits of cycling and health. Maybe, including “C” for Cycle in the textbooks can help!
- Consulting college campuses to have cycles as the only transportation mode inside campuses. It could be the best investment to make the campus greener.
- Encouraging the corporate offices to provide necessary facilities to make their offices cycling friendly; like general work timing of 8-9 AM to 5-6:30 PM, shower rooms, locker, and parking.
- To start pilot projects with municipal corporations; to include cycling lanes in the selected areas of the cities followed by online petitions to have proper infrastructure to make the cycling safer. Who will do it?
- Cycling clubs are essential to trigger this change. They already have people interested in cycling. The transition from leisure cycling to utility cycling along with recreation need to happen.
- All the cycle manufacturers and cycle shops have to join hands to make it a mass movement. Test ride of cycle brands and awareness programs needs to be encouraged.
- All those people who have creative nerves, who are in theatres, arts, who can find creativity in anything are essential to shaping utility cycling as trendy, safe and need of the hour. An online platform to have the real time statistics of all the cyclists in the various cities, all the clubs running actively, all the events happening, all the methods to make cycling accessible and all the possible news related to cycling in a structure is under development. Let us make it fashionable, bold, and feasible for the community. Let us not take the world for granted. Let us Ride!
