The Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) in Bengaluru, aiming to reduce traffic in the city, has decided to come up with dedicated pop-up bike lanes on both sides of the outer ring road (ORR) between Silk Board junction and Lowry Memorial College near K R Puram. The development work is in progress for the 16 km stretch, DULT has said that 26 wards in the Bengaluru will fall under the Cycling District – I.
26 wards under Cycling District
The 26 wards that will come under the Cycling District includes Koramangala, Jakkasandra, HSR Layout, Bilekahalli, Ejipura, Shantinagar, Shantalanagar, Adugodi, Ejipura, Neelasandra, Varthur, Bellandur, Vannarpet, Agaram, Domlur, Marathahalli, Kalena Agrahara, Doddanekundi, Vignananagar, Hoysala Nagar, New Thippasandra, Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Jogupalya, HAL Airport, C V Raman Nagar, and A Narayanapura.
Bicycle Mayor of Bengaluru, Sathya Sankaran said that dedicated bike lanes would be a one-stop solution for the Bengaluru’s traffic sufferings.
Dedicated Bike lanes will help in reducing traffic
He said that The space required for the bicycle lane is half that of the width of a car and thus, it results in reducing traffic equals to five cars. Giving that small space on roads for bicycle gives everyone more space, cleaner air, fewer traffic jams, better health, more productivity, and better economic activity.
In an effort to encourage cycling, Sankaran is now on the lookout for bicycle councilors across 198 wards in the city. He cited that the major share of cycling adoption will start from a small trip to the neighborhood with a bicycle.
Efforts at the local level
Sankaran said that Encouraging local traveling needs solutions at the local level. Hence, they choose to target ward level leadership to increase the adoption of bicycling and make an impact through interventions. The higher the number of people gets involved in getting the people on the bicycle, the faster we will see its impact at the city level.
Bengaluru- Bicycle holders on buses
Moreover, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) installed bicycle holders in ten of its buses on an experimental basis.
A BMTC official told, “Initial plan was to deploy these in 100 buses running through the proposed cycle tracks. But now, the same has been done only in 10 buses as we are waiting for permission from the Centre as this may lead to some modifications in the structure of the bus to expand this initiative.”
However, the modification was estimated to cost around Rs 14,000 per bus, but BMTC officials said that it has spent only Rs 4,500 per bus.
