The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bicycles: Still the city's best mode of transport for many

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bicycles: Still the city's best mode of transport for many

Sandhya Soman

However a study points to a decline in bicycle traffic on Anna Salai

CHENNAI: They weave in and out of traffic and shoot past people and places pedalling quickly. Bicycles are still the city's best-loved mode of transport, surviving the speed of motorcycles, the glamour of cars and the convenience of autorickshaws and buses.

"They are very useful," says Murali from Madipakkam. He has two at home: to cycle swiftly to the market or for fetching water pots.

Traffic constable N. Gopal says he would love to zip past Anna Salai in a snazzy motorcycle but would settle for his bicycle that has seen better days.

"I have no other means. So for the past 20 years I've been using this. Very helpful to catch offenders like this," pointing to an ingeniously modified fishcart piled with parcels, before pedalling away after it furiously.

Vadivel does not own a cycle but rents one whenever his employer asks him to collect a parcel or sends him on an errand.

"It cost me Rs. 10 for two hours to go to Parry's Corner, get the parcel and come back. There is no traffic problem and no need to carry licence or any paper," he says.

Malik Basha of A.H. Cycle Shop at Chintadripet is only happy to rent his cycles in times of rising petrol prices.

"I have 20 cycles and I charge Rs. 4 an hour. Business is good. Daily 60-70 people take them out," he says.

But he will rent out his cycles only to regulars.

"Each one costs Rs. 2,150 and there is the problem of people not returning them," says Basha.

Isaiah George (76), from Anna Nagar is a regular. Not at Basha's rent-a-cycle-shop but on Chennai roads with his Hero Ladybird. Mr. George says he has been successfully avoiding buses and autorickshaws ever since he came to Chennai in 1956.

"I started cycling because there were not enough buses and I had to cover a lot of distance. Cycle helped me reach fast," he recalls. He says he forgot buses after cycling 25-30 km every day.

Post-retirement and after covering long distances on motorcycles, Mr. George is back on his cycle.

"At my age I can't drive a bike. Besides I don't have to pay Rs. 15 to the autowallah to visit my daughter who stays just half-a-km away."

The only thing that manages to slow down this keen cyclist is the sight of over-speeding vehicles that just would not `Keep Left.'

"Almost every house in Madras has a cycle," says M.K. Subramanian, secretary of Automobile Association of Southern India. And if you want to encourage more children, youngsters and dedicated cyclists like Mr. George, have "cycle lanes everywhere."

"That will keep them and other vehicle-users out of harm," says Mr. Subramanian.

Cycle lane

A cycle path is a track or road designated for use by cyclists that is generally segregated from roads used by motor vehicles. They have it in Europe, especially the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Japan.

In Chennai there are separate lanes for cycling. M.K. Subramanian recalls the cycle lane that extended from Raj Bhavan in Guindy to Adyar on Sardar Patel Road. "It was set up 15 years ago adjoining the pavement."

While disuse led to the slow death of the `cycle lane,' an "exclusive cycle track" still takes cyclists over the railway track cutting the Gengu Reddy Road at Egmore.

The entire Inner Ring Road, which was supposed to have a separate lane for cyclists, has a rundown track from Padi to Madhavaram junction.

A study of the traffic on Anna Salai, between Saidapet and Shanthi Theatre, by the Indian Institute of Technology's Transportation Engineering Division, points to a decline in bicycle traffic.

"There is a drop because cyclists are unable to manoeuvre their vehicles as there are no separate tracks. Also, the number of motorised vehicles has gone up drastically," says professor V. Thamizh Arasan of IIT.

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