Online drive in city for cycling to stay fit and break chain of virus

GUWAHATI: Bicycles have made a comeback with many people opting for the two-wheeler for commute, as the pandemic is yet to show any signs of slowing down.
An online campaign has been initiated to promote cycling as it gives people an equitable, clean and inexpensive option to travel to their work, while maintaining social distance and at the same time keeping fit.
Arshel Akhter, an avid cyclist based in the city, started an online petition “Let’s make Guwahati the most cycling-friendly city in India”, addressed to Siddhartha Bhattacharya, minister, Guwahati Development Department, saying cycling does not contribute to pollution and congestion on the streets.
Akhter said, “Guwahati, along with the rest of the world, has seen a tremendous growth of cycling enthusiasts in the last couple of months during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some unofficial estimates say there has been a 50% increase in the number of people who have taken up cycling.”
Iftekar Hussain, who runs two cycle stores of Imperial Cycles in the city, said the demand of cycles in the city had increased at least three times than that of before March.
“This is mainly because of people’s demand to pursue fitness amid the pandemic, especially with the gyms shut,” he said.
But as most factories are in shortage of the workforce and limited functioning of the industries due to Covid , the stores have not copped up with the surge in the demands of cycling, he added.
“There is a huge demand-supply chain that has been affected. The demand attributes two reasons — individual modes of transport maintaining social distancing which is safer and another is to make oneself fit to boost immunity,” Hussain said.
Utkarsh, an employee of Decathlon, one of the largest cycle stores in Guwahati, said the selling of cycle has increased at least 20-25 % in Guwahati since March.
He said, “The demand for cycle is always higher in the northeast than in North India, but this has further intensified in the last four-five months due to the increase of people’s need to keep themselves fit.”
However, Utkarsh said the demand had not been fully filed due to the lockdown and less production and transportation problems.
Akhter, a core member of Guwahati Cycling Community, said, “Most people do not own a motor vehicle and rely on public transport such as buses or intermediate public transport like shared taxis, electric rickshaws to travel for their work. These options were absent during the pandemic. So, people found cycles as the best way to travel for short distances for their work.”
He added that during the lockdown, gyms got closed and people who used to frequent these for fitness found cycles as an alternative.
“There are some people who found during the pandemic that it was much cheaper to ride a cycle than go out on their cars or hire one when going out alone,” he added.
“The World Health Organisation’s guidelines on cycling during Covid-19 — that it is a good way to maintain social distance while travelling and also to help develop one’s immunity helped a lot to encourage more people to take up cycling,” Akhter said.
He said in Guwahati 45% of road space in at most major roads are used up by cars just for parking and 55% space left for movement of vehicles.
“Despite only 20% of the city population owning cars, 80%-90% of road space is dedicated to moving four-wheelers. If cars are the cause of traffic congestion, then steps need to be taken to restrict them and not create more infrastructure to facilitate them. The idea should be to move people and not just vehicles,” he said.