My father has always said the cycle transformed the lives of women in India. The cycle to him was an instrument of freedom and independence. It expanded the universe of opportunity for them.
Cycles can be a confusing barometer of a country’s economic progress and the wellbeing of its people. One of my earliest memories of China are photos of roads in Beijing choc-a-bloc with cyclists. I would witness a similar scene in Dakshinpuri New Delhi in the mid-1990s. Residents of this resettlement colony would cycle out to work. Today, these very roads are full of cars. On the other hand, cycles are an important personal transport option in many European countries.
Owning a car is a symbol of wealth and economic progress in some societies. The use of cycles is a symbol of concern for the environment and one’s own health; not-to-mention the provision of civic infrastructure.
Cycling in India straddles health, leisure and a household income enabler.
When one speaks of health vis-à-vis cycling it is more as an office commute and long morning rides. Leisure on the other hand ranges from cycling on trails on the weekend or as a part of a tourist activity to get to know a place. Household economic enabler is men and women cycling to work.
However, given all this, the cycle is now under further pressure, because it has been anointed as a vehicle to stop Climate Change. This role assigned to these two wheels is challenging to say the least given that it is competing with motorised two and four wheels, let’s not forget an acquisitory mindset that also likes to display, and the lack of infrastructure to enable the cycle rise to its task.
Per India’s Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) 2023 data, the three-wheeler auto segment had the strongest growth - 58.50% when compared to bikes and passenger vehicles.
Passenger vehicle sales was 38,60,268 units, a 10.61% increase over the previous calendar year. Bikes sales for the year posted a 9.45% increase over the previous calendar year. Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport and Highways minister, in his August 2022 written reply to Parliament stated India has over twenty-one crore two-wheelers and over seven crore four-wheeler and above vehicles registered on his ministry’s centralised data base.
Compare these figures to the 2023 cycle sales figures, 20.53 million cycles were sold in 2023. However, there are atleast 3 different cycle segments - kids, standard, premium. E-bikes has become a new segment. There is an export segment that is not being considered here. The bicycle market is expected to grow by 5.30% between 2024 and 2028.
However, for certain societies, cycles are a gateway to purchasing a motorised two-wheeler. For example, children with cycles are given a bike when they turn 15-16. Lower income cycle users purchase a bike when they begin to earn more. As one can do more, the speed and zero physical effort of a bike trumps a cycle. There is an understandable natural socio-economic progression from walking to cycling to riding a bike. While the cycle is an initial socio-economic enhancer, the bike can stabilise and catalyse socio-economic progress.
Cycles, just like other vehicles need infrastructure. Fortunately, this does not suggest added infrastructure but just a demarcated cycle-only lane on roads, and something that all road users dream off – pot-hole free roads.
However, changes in mindset is key. For example, motorised vehicles not using cycle lanes. This can be difficult. One of the reasons for the failure of Delhi’s Bus Rapid Transport System was the refusal of single occupant cars to not use the lane dedicated for the public bus. But this is not surprising as it is par-for-the course for two-wheelers to use pedestrian footpaths. Jumping lights comes naturally to citizens of this country too.
So, at the moment opting to cycle in the city is for the brave or for those knowledgeable of inner-city roads. But that may change with the India Cycles4Change which is part of the SmartCity Initiative. The SmartCity Initiative comes under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. As per an information brochure on this campaign ‘Cycling-friendly cities can help everyone access jobs, education, and healthcare in a safe and affordable way, especially public transport users who’ve been affected by COVID-19 restrictions. A shift to cycling, even for short trips, can result in an annual benefit of 1.8 trillion1 to the national economy, and reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Cycling can also improve physical health and mental well-being, especially during these trying times’. 107 cities have signed up for this initiative.
There is a lot that has to be unpacked with this ambition. Undoubtedly, a cycle is that technology that can do much. However, there is a chicken and egg situation here. What should come first - provision of cycling infrastructure or getting social acceptance of cycling and other issues?
What other issues are there when it comes to cycling? For example, if cycling to school is being promoted then schools should be close to the place of residence of children. However, currently parents’ drop-off their children to school or the school organises buses to collect children from various areas of the city. There is even private transport that collect and drop-off groups of children. To ensure parents send their children to neighbourhood schools education infrastructure will have to be similar across the board. But even if it is, will parents send their children to school by cycle if the roads are not safe?
Then there is the question of equity and justice - an argument well known in the Climate Change debate. There is a difference between a well-to-do person already owning a house and car opting to cycle and a person cycling to work because he can’t afford anything else and later buying a motorbike.
Cycling has much to offer, but the challenges to its acceptance is as varied as the challenges faced by cyclists on Indian roads.
(Samir Nazareth is an author and writes on socio-economic and environmental issues)