CICLOVIA

Somehow or other Colombia has been at the vanguard of urban transport

initiatives. The Bus Rapid Transit System, BRTS for short, though established
first in Curitiba in Brazil, it is Bogota in Colombia that we in India drew
inspiration from. The country has a fascinating rapid transit system which we
have tried to emulate but have miserably failed in the effort for varied reasons
that need not be gone into here.

A fresh initiative has come from Colombia and this time it is not about the
polluting diesel buses that are used in the bus rapid transit system. It is about
good old bicycle and an attempt to resurrect it after it was virtually pushed into
oblivion as a means of personal mobility. The Colombian initiatives have had
emphasis on conservation of environment. Just as the BRTS was meant to
apply brakes on the rapidly increasing green house gases in the atmosphere
the new initiative that goes by the name Ciclovia attempts to popularize
emission-free transport as also to improve the health of people and their
general wellbeing.

Ciclovia is not, in fact, a new initiative. It was commenced around 1974 when
sections of roads were closed on Sundays for motor vehicles for half a day
and only cyclists, walkers and joggers were allowed on them. The Indian
Ambassador in Colombia writes that what started as a small exercise now
covers more than 121 kms. of Bogotas roads with the participation of one
fourth of the population of the town of eight million on every Sunday and on
other holidays that work out to 68 days in a year. He says, from 7.00 AM to
2.00 PM young and old come out in colourful apparels to give themselves an
outing in their own city.

Many cities of Colombia and Latin America have adopted Ciclovia. Apparently
people like the initiative prompting the administrations to add hundreds of
kilometers cycle routes in Bogota and elsewhere. Ciclovias popularity is being
used by commercial firms to broadcast their messages through various
cycling events. Even the Indian Embassy is reported to have celebrated the
International Yoga Day in June 2016 using Ciclovia.

We in India were at one time totally dependent on the bicycle. It was the only
vehicle for quicker mobility for the blue collared workers as also of a few
sections of white collars and students. The middle class and the lower classes
back then had no other alternative as four wheeled motorized vehicles were
much beyond their reach andpublic transport run by the governments or their
agencies was unavailable. I remember during our college days in the mid
1950s many of our professors used to cycle down to the college. They would
be immaculately dressed in three-piece suits in winters with matching felt
hats. In summers, it would be shirt sleeves and sola hats, bicycles remaining
as the means of commuting. Reports used to be received of Pune having the
largest number of bicycles. With changing shifts in factories swarms of cyclists
would choke the streets. Today, however, things have changed; it is now the
motorised two-wheeler or a car; a bicycle is used, if at all, for pleasure rides.

Nonetheless, efforts are being made to popularise the use of bicycles. In

Bhopal already around 10 kilometres of cycle tracks have been constructed
and bicycles are on offer on rent somewhat in the pattern of Paris and other
European cities after this movement took off more than a decade ago. For us
in India the weather is a great hindrance, particularly in summers when due to
searing heat of the sun none would like to expose oneself to the unfriendly
elements. During the rest of the year, however, cycling could be promoted for
hobby as also for commuting.

That is precisely what Ciclovia, with all its multiple environmental and health
benefits, would seemingly seek to suggest to us.