help me ride my bike

8/13/2019 Help Me Ride My Bike

1/3

Abhijeet Saboo, Architect & Urban Planner.

Being an architect and city planner, I have always realized the value of bike friendly

cities as a model for sustainable development. Also, having faith in our transport plan-

ning techniques, I often advocate sustainable mobility plans for Indian cities in which

cyclists are acknowledged and usually rewarded with the so called cycling track.

On a busy Monday morning, as I found myself stuck in traffic jam on my way to office,I envied this cyclist biking past my car leaving behind all the traffic. It was then that I

made up my mind to bike my way down to office every day. Not until I had set my foot

on my bikes pedal did I realize that the decision was an eye opener. Unable to tread

even 100 meters of citys vital transport corridor comfortably, I bemoaned the extreme

disjunction between our transport planning system, a planners thought process and

the cyclists experience.

As I pulled my bike on to the cycling track of the new BRTS corridor on a ma-

jor artery of the city (here it happens to be Bhopal), I was welcomed with a series of

potholes and patches of unpaved, uneven surfaces to ride on. Almost crashing into big

trees and utilities present right in the middle of the cycling track section, I wonderedat the sensitivity of the designer. Manoeuvring through open manhole lids as I moved

ahead, my biking spree turned into adventure sports when I had to lift my bike at the

road junctions where the so called cycling track abruptly vanished with a sudden gra-

dient drop. With no slopes or traffic calming techniques at the road junctions, I felt lost

and petite amidst heavy traffic, struggling my way to get to the other end of the junc-

Help me ride my Bike !

A humanistic, people-friendly city is first and foremost an

accessible city, where mobility is possible for all. Many cities

today are plagued by traffic congestion, and in densely popu-lated city areas the fastest way of getting around is often on a

bicycle, which is a highly efficient means of transport.

- Louise Kielgast, Gehl Architects

Small ditches can get you big stitches !


2/3


tion on my bike. Also, discontinuity of the track at many stretches apart from the road

junctions made it impossible for me to ride my bike at a comfortable and steady pace.

The so called dedicated track became a contested domain of the two wheelers, cyclists,

pedestrians and road side hawkers, further making it difficult to tread smoothly.

Grappling with basic infrastructure issues where my safety was my primary concern,

it seemed far-fetched to elaborate about the poor visual experiential quality of my bike

ride. As our streetscapes are primarily designed for motorists, the scale of graphics

(hoardings and signage) as well as landscape is meant to be a visual treat only for the

automobile user with no attempts to design at human scale. Despite the inconven-

ience, I somehow felt lucky to be riding my bike in winters as basic landscape elements

such as tree shade was missing, making it difficult to imagine the condition of cyclists

riding in hot Indian summers. Street Lighting for cyclists and pedestrians also seemed

to be an unachievable luxury as unlit bike lanes not only risked the lives of cyclists but

also made these spaces unsafe and prone to crime. Nevertheless, jostling my way as I

reached my destination and took a sigh of relief, it occurred to me that this was not the

end of my expedition, I was yet to find a safe space to park my bicycle!!! The lack of safe

cycle stands throughout the city is reason enough to discourage biking.

The act of riding bike to work may look fancy to some but the decision has been very

scary for the family so far. The fear is not unjustified. A quick Google search tells us that

among all countries, India has the highest number of deaths due to road traffic-related

accidents. Road accidents are the sixth leading cause of death in the country, and there

were nearly 1,40,000 deaths from road accidents in 2012. Out of these cyclists and pe-

destrians account for more than half of all road fatalities. If cycling conditions remain

much as they are, cycling will remain a very minor mode of urban mobility, practiced

mainly by people with very little means or by committed hardcore cyclists who feel

capable of battling with motorized traffic. Although a recreational cyclist like me maypull out his bike occasionally, but sadly enough a regular commuter is left with no

choice but to confront the hostile traffic environment everyday to earn his bread and

butter.

Do we have a choice ?

The supposed

bike lane

May be its time for

Method Planning

like Method Acting,

where one needs to

get immersed into

the role of the char-acter before per-

forming an act.


3/3


One may argue the necessity of a designed biking space in a developing country like

India where there is dearth of basic services for life sustenance, but for those it would

be interesting to note that that despite the presence of resources, even the most de-

veloped countries are struggling to provide infrastructure and safety to its bikers and

pedestrians. Hence, the intention of planners and policy makers, as well as the idea

of fair share of resources matters most in deciding the fate of cyclists. With innumer-

able flyovers and high speed corridors, its alarming to know how our Indian cities arestill being planned for the elite motorist. The attempts to encourage sustainable public

transport systems seemingly fail to succeed due to sheer lack of our (planners & policy

makers) understanding of the end user.

A bike friendly city is a dream too distant from grave reality of where most Indian

cities are devoid of basic infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. Not only a robust

movement network with sound infrastructure is a priority but there remains a need to

sensitize planners and city designers towards the experience of a cyclist. So when En-

rique Penalosa, the new urbanist and ex-mayor of Bagota, Columbia, asks the Coimbat-

ore city mayor and chief planning officer to strap themselves to a wheel chair and try

navigating through the city before coming up with mobility plans, he makes a point to

the policy makers to ensure that they understand, perceive and imbibe the difficulties

of residents before making any announcements. Hence, its time to question our basic

methods and approach to designing and planning cities. Secondary and tertiary case

studies as well as theoretical understanding are not enough in the planning process.

The policy makers as well as city designers need to undergo first hand experiences in

order to evolve a truly empathetic mobility plan. May be its time to implement Method

planning like the popular Bollywood style of Method Acting, where one needs to get

immersed into the role of the character before performing an act. In the current plan-

ning system, stakeholder consultation is a method to connect to people, but unfortu-

nately, most of the times it turns out to be mere a necessary ritual. Though it is com-

mendable that we have come up to a point where we have understood the importance

of listening to public opinion and I am hopeful the next advancement would not just belistening but also planning in accordance with public perception.

Realizing the alarming need for sustainable development of our cities, its high time

that we as citizens, planners, designers and policy makers make concrete commit-

ments for cycling to become a safe, enjoyable and completely normal way for people to

get around in our cities.

The End

help me ride my bike

Documents