I am all for motorised transport, for it changed the face of the earth like none other in the history known to man. It even changed how people lived their lives and saw the world. Such is the importance of transport propelled by burning dead dinosaurs and plants.
Of course there are different modes of mechanised transport that people prefer. I, for instance, prefer bikes and cars and loathe scooters and public transport.
However, when we take a moment and look back, the whole industry started with one person who thought to put a motor on to a bicycle. Yep, the very bicycle which until the ’70s and even the ’80s was a big thing in our country and is overlooked today by even school-going children.
As environmentalists go crazy over global warming and play the blame game, the government, not to be left behind, has been pointing its fingers towards personal transport, that in India at least is mostly bikes.
Thus, began the revival of the bicycle, or has it? In recent times, the State government started developing separate lanes for cycles in Chennai. One can see those lanes on the roads adjacent to the famous Edward Elliot’s beach (it’s Bessy, millennial!) and at K K Nagar.
The government even went as far as lending bicycles to users of Metro trains at some fare an hour. If you want specifics, I’m afraid this is not the space you must be looking for (think CMRL website).
Despite the formation of many cyclist groups and fitness activists – yes that is a thing now – the number of cyclists never really caught up to the rate that people took to vehicles.
There are many reasons to that however, the first being the obvious and the most overlooked, the roads. You see, no matter how much cyclists ask for road space, the government won’t yield. Why? because it is the motorists who pay the road tax. Where would a cyclist ride his/her cycle, if a humble motorist did not buy his loved transport on two- and four-wheels?
Then comes the fact that people are always in a hurry now and would like to trade off pedalling to pooling around in a car. It is a simple fact that people prefer luxury, be it ornaments, a house or a vehicle.
But the biggest drawback, I think, is that owning a vehicle somehow became intertwined with the status of a person. Society is formed in such a way that people respect those who own a car than those who have to do with a bicycle.
Then there is the poor execution of the projects that promote cycling. A bicycle is a tool that a commoner should be able to buy. However, the CMRL has made sure that people pay Rs 3,000 as down payment. That is not a small amount by any means. Also, there is the fact that parking is a problem and more so, securing a cycle. It is easy to steal a cycle and thieves nowadays do not steal to save their ailing mother from illness. They have ‘other’ priorities.
So, I think and know many won’t like this: Cycling is done for good. But, it might live on because of those who use it not as a mode of transport, but as a tool to reduce one’s flab that came due to endless gorging on fatty food. Maybe the world will start to use it when all of the fuel in the world is used up. But even then, I think we would rather prefer boats to bicycles. Know what I mean?