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Jaipal Reddy - Are you Listening?

Posted by Sangita on 30 May 2009

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Jaipal Reddy - Are you Listening? In US, more bicycles were bought in the first quarter of 2009 than cars and trucks. That's a big change for a country of iconic cars and now the foremost company GM is in the verge of bankruptcy.

But in India, the news is not so good. Cars and motor cyles are outperforming bicycles and it is something that no one wants to own. And even the price of cars and fuel in on the rise the trend will continue and bicycle will eventually be phased out of our life.

The question is: How do we reverse the trend?

Talk climate
The climate crisis is in full effect and we all should be looking for ways to decrease our carbon footprint. Replacing the car commute with a bike (not a motor bike) ride is a sure fire way to limit the impact. Driving a car emits more than 1 Kg of CO2 per 3 km, while bicycles emit next to nothing.

Talk fitness
At a recent stage of the Giro D'Italia, American racer Chris Horner burned almost 7,000 calories in one day! While most of us won't be climbing the Dolomites any time soon, riding a bike is great exercise that's easy on your joints and muscles.

But what about infrastructure?

It is a shame that we have no bicycle lanes and our ministers and departments have no clue also. Around the world, a lot of people choose cars and trucks over bikes because of safety concerns but in India it is the other way round. Riding a bicyle in city roads probably has chance of more peril than climbing Mt. Everest.

We can entice more cyclists to hit the road by loudly advocating for bike lanes and secure bike parking. We should start and support our local bicycle advocacy organization in every city of India.

Is our urban affairs minister Jaipal Reddy listening or he will just bypass the issue with his gift of gab?
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Comments (2)

Ranger wrote on 30 May, 2009

Nice blog :)

spirited wrote on 01 June, 2009

Hi Sangita, sorry... because of the worthless acai juice propaganda your blog got unnoticed, sure we need bicycles club in all cities and make a citizen movement for getting bike lanes in every roads, in Bangalore there are some demarcation but traffic police is more interested to make money from 2 wheeler riders than enforcing any traffic rules.