‘Handlebar Survey 2.0’ highlights need for revamp of bicycle tracks in PCMC
Akash Dhanurkar
‘Cycles 4 Change’, an initiative by the Ministry of Home and Urban Affairs sees a promising development in PCMC. Four stretches needing development for bicycle friendly routes – concluded after the Handlebar survey 2.0
A surge in the use of bicycles in the city has been witnessed in the past few years. People have realized the use of cycles for healthy and economical benefits. The use of cycles for the transport may also lead to less congestion. However, the recent initiative by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will lead a change in various dimensions. which eventually led to realizing the development of four stretches in PCMC to make them bicycle friendly.
Upon talking to the mayor of the cycle for PCMC, Ashik Jain, he said, “For the past few months, we have been largely promoting the initiative by the central government. There is a growing need for people to realize the use of cycles for their health and wealth. But we had to first understand the safety concerns of peddling cycling on the routes that receive constant complaints of congestion. So, we tried reaching out to the people for the people through the survey named as Handlebar. The survey helped us understand the public opinion of using the cycle. To our surprise 85 % of people agreed to the use of personal cycle.”
Ashik Jain also shared that the initiative is being carried out under smart city project. While talking to Pune Pulse, Ashik also confirmed that the survey received a huge response after the participation of citizens from all the age groups. The survey kick started on October 10, 2020, with more than 25 cycling enthusiasts in 5 groups on 5 different stretches, which helped the authorities understand the difficulties in cycling on the routes. In conclusion, four stretches were understood which carried difficulties for cycling.
The difficulties are mainly related to safety, convenience and comfort.
- Aundh – Ravet BRTS Road.
- Pimple Nilakh – KalewadiPhata.
- Kaspate Chowk – Hinjewadi.
- Kaspate Chowk – Pimple Saudagar
- Wakad Post Office – Dange Chowk – Hinjewadi
The authorities realized the need to work on minimizing the difficulties for cycling on the above given routes. Talking with Shrikant Savane, joint city engineer, who is also the nodal officer from PCMC for India Cycles 4 Change, said, “We have taken all the pin points from the survey and we will study the difficulties faced by the bicycle users. Once we study them, we will prepare a report within the next 10 – 12 days. Once we get an approval, we will immediately start working on it.”
