KOLKATA: On World Bicycle Day, two campaigns — Ride to Work and Road Safety — kicked off in New Town, where cycling lanes are available but hardly used. While the former attempts to encourage corporates and the community to promote use of cycles among employees and service staff, the other is about responsible and safe cycling.
In the Ride to Work campaign, SwitchON Foundation that advocates use of cycles as an environment-friendly mode of transport and New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), are urging corporate houses to encourage their employees to use cycles by providing cycle stands, showers and changing rooms.
“Overseas, corporate houses offer such infrastructure in addition to facilities like food and snacks and additional bonus points in the employee evaluation for cycling or using public transport to commute to work,” pointed out SwitchON founder Vinay Jaju.
Talks are also on with around 10 resident welfare associations to create a cycle stand and encourage their service staff — drivers, guards and maids — to use cycles. “We held focussed group discussion with women domestic helpers, who cycle to work, to learn what are the peeve points and are trying to address them,”said Jaju.
The discussion revealed that cycling not only led to saving of money that women spent to feed and educate her children, it also gave them flexibility, mobility and independence as well as confidence to deal with challenges, including harassment and snide remarks.
In the road safety campaign, guidelines have been prepared for cyclists on road rules that they must adhere to, so that their journey is safe and they do not cause distress to other road users.
While calling for motor vehicles to prioritise cyclists and pedestrians, the campaign calls upon cyclists to obey traffic signals and stop at the red light; stick to the left of the road while cycling; indicate before taking a turn; and use reflectors and lights so that other motorists know that there is a cyclist ahead. “We are stressing on responsible road use, both by cyclists and motorists. While cyclists need to follow rules, motorists must also learn to respect cyclists and not hustle them,” explained Jaju.
Senior NKDA officials said, cycles as a mode of transport was key to sustainable mobility. “It is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation, fostering environmental stewardship and health and NKDA has been at the forefront promoting its usage within New Town area,” said an official.
