Nagpur is an ideal city to promote it cycling city and create a cycling friendly environment for all the residents of the city. Nagpur is a flat city without any major hills and most of the commuting distances are within 10 km for any common person. Apart from that rising fuel prices and adopting a healthy lifestyle will help
What it will take to make Nagpur a destination for any cyclist,
Parking places for cycling – one of the most important and often forgotten measure is dedicated parking places for cycles in both public and private spaces in the city. Most of us when we go to any place by cycle are worried whether we will have any park space for our cycle. Whether after coming back from shopping or meeting, will I find my cycle in the same place is a big question for all of us. This factor is a major deterrent as to why many don’t use cycles. Nicely designed and well maintained cycle parking stands will be inviting for any cyclist to use them. Developing cycle parking stands and spaces in all the government offices, shopping and market areas will help promote cycling for everyone.
Cycling lanes – Smart city project of Nagpur is going to develop more than 700 kms of cycling lanes on Nagpur roads. It will truly create a cycling environment on the Nagpur roads. A separate space will be ear marked on the roads for the cyclist. This along with many road signage’s will help create a safe environment for the cyclist.
Cycling clubs in school and colleges – the local administration should work with all the schools and colleges to start cycling clubs and rejuvenate the old tradition of going to school or college on the cycle. All the school, colleges and tuition classes should have cycling parking stands to keep the cycles properly locked. Apart from that schools and colleges should provide training in the sport of cycling to promote the sport of cycling. This will not only make the sport of cycling more stylish and inviting for the younger generation but also create next generation of cycling heroes from the city. To create cycling heroes the sport of cycling has to be promoted at school and college level. Having regular cycling races for youngsters and for people of all ages will make the sport more inclusive.
Public awareness campaign – creating infrastructure to promote cycling as a way of life is the easiest thing the government can do for the city. The most important thing is to engineer the minds of the people. The city needs a major behavioural and public awareness campaign to improve traffic discipline and discipline towards pedestrians and cyclist in general. Schools, colleges, government and private institutions should be part of this public awareness campaign. A sustained 10 year awareness and change program will help improve the state of traffic behaviour of our city. Drivers of busses, trucks and other heavy vehicles should be sensitized about the safety of cyclist on the road.
Public bike sharing services – with all these above measures, more people are likely to cycle on Nagpur city roads in coming years, which will generate demand for rented cycles for going from one point to another. Already smart city project of Nagpur is going to start public bike sharing services along with metro services.