Solomon Senrick's List: Justice Project--Cycling

• Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now number about one billion worldwide.^[1] They are the principal means of transportation in many regions.
• bicycles have numerous benefits including the provision of exercise, generating renewable energy and thus no air pollution, reducing traffic congestion, minimizing noise pollution (nearly silent operation), easier and less costly parking, much lower likelihood of causing a fatality, high maneuverability, ability to travel on roads or special paths, and lower user cost as well as societal costs (negligible damage to roads, and less pavement required)

  • Benifits of cycling. Why should people do it?
• downsides to cycling commonly include: reduced protection in crashes (including those with motor vehicles),^[4] longer travel time (except in densely populated areas), no inherent protection from poor weather, difficulty in transporting passengers, and the physical demands of operation.

• Road bikes tend to have a more upright shape and a shorter wheelbase, which  make the bike more mobile but harder to ride slowly. The design, coupled with  low or dropped handlebars, requires the rider to bend forward more, utilizing  stronger muscles and reducing air resistance at high speed.
• They favour a more holistic approach based on the 4 'E's; education (of everyone involved), encouragement (to apply the education), enforcement (to protect the rights of others), and engineering (to facilitate travel while respecting every person's equal right to do so). In some cases this opposition has a more ideological basis: some members of the Vehicular Cycling movement oppose segregated public facilities, such as on-street bike lanes, on principle. Some groups offer training courses to help cyclists integrate themselves with other traffic. This is part of the ongoing cycle path debate.
• According to the World Health Organization, physical inactivity is second only to tobacco smoking as a health risk in developed countries

  • Another reason to use bicycles
• The charity Sustrans reports that investment in cycling provision can give a 20:1 return from health and other benefits.
• One concern often expressed (both by non-cyclists and some cyclists) is the thought that riding in traffic exposes the cyclist to higher levels of air pollution, especially if he travels on or along busy roads. This has been shown to be untrue, as the pollutant and irritant count within cars is consistently higher,^[36] (presumably because of limited circulation of air within the car and due to the air intake being directly in the stream of other traffic).

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• In the West it is common to combine bicycle commuting with other means of public  transportation (also known as mixed-mode commuting). Folding bicycles are used  if space, fees or restrictions interfere with taking full size bicycles along.  Another alternative is to have a bicycle parked at a station.

• There are a number of issues to be addressed with respect to cycle commuting,  many of which are raised as objections by those who choose not to do so. While  it is undoubtedly a matter of personal choice, and these concerns are not  without basis in fact, it is true to say that there are very few issues which  have not been solved in one way or another by those who are committed to cycle  commuting.

  • These are some issues I could think about in regards to Mumbai.

• Hard facts on bike usage, production, sales, imports, exports and trade are  hard to come by. Many of the best statistics are buried in papers that are  presented at conferences such as VeloCity, ProBike and the Transportation  Research Board (TRB). Sometimes these papers are published after the conferences  but it can then be difficult to get a hold of the proceeding, and then they  aren't very well indexed so you have to go through all of all of them to extract  anything that might be useful to you.
• Tokyo Japan Cost of owning a  car is high: fuel taxes double those of the United States account for almost  half of the price of gas; automobile tax levies and vehicle inspection fees  amount to an average of almost $2,000 annually.

• • This helps understand economic impact.
• CITCO has put around 10 ultra-modern bicycles, fitted with gearboxes, at the  Sukhna Lake, one of the major tourist destinations here. Anyone interested in  cycling can take these bicycles on rent.

• nearly three million vehicles clog 500km (300 miles) of Bangalore's gridlocked  roads, with 1,000 new vehicles added every day.

  • Important statistic regarding vehicle congestion

  • Answers question 1

• Concerns over traffic conditions and the environment, combined with the  sedentary lifestyles peculiar to the software sector, have all combined to  promote cycling to work in Bangalore.
• Go Cycle, an umbrella organisation of biking enthusiasts and activists, which is  looking to lobby corporate sponsors and the local government for amenities for  urban cyclists.

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• a public meeting at the Carter Road amphitheatre, Bandra (W), to popularise  cycling in the city to check pollution and reduce traffic congestion

  • This deals with history.
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• Activists Fawzan Javed and Colin Christopher, who initiated the move for the  meeting, felt that starting a bicycle movement in Bandra would set a precedent  for other suburbs to follow.

• DO YOU          

  	Live in Mumbai?
  	Have curiosity and concern about your city?
  	Want to explore these curiosities and concerns?
  	Want to have fun while discovering your city, locality and  yourself?

• PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action & Research) is an independent  research–action organization. PUKAR wants to encourage youth to generate  research projects on diverse aspects of MUMBAI through the Youth Fellowship  Programme.

   

   Supported by the  Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the Youth Fellowship Programme has facilitated more  than 100 research projects on diverse aspects Mumbai in the last four years.  More than 1200 youth have generated new knowledge about Mumbai through these  projects.

• Three local NGOs — JAAG, Hariyali Foundation, Andhashraddha Nirmulan
  Samiti