Bicycle Day - Once a week

My bosses in Germany love to visit Bangalore, but the only complaint they have is about the traffic. Every time they come back from there, they say that the weather was lovely, the people - friendly, the pubs - lively, but the traffic - lousy! And this, when the Nano is still not in the market. It is impossible to imagine the scale of the problems when that little wonder gets on the roads!

I believe the time has come for everyone in India to bring in some lifestyle changes. If not, the damage to the environment will be irreversible. We would never be able to leave a better world for the future generations.

My idea in this direction would be to stop using motorcycles, rickshaws and cars (not even car pooling) once a week and use buses and bicycles instead.

Think about this, the average city driving speed in Bangalore is 18kph according to a recent survey done by Wilbur Smith Associates. One can easily clock this speed in a bicycle. This will not only reduce traffic congestion, but also bring down the pollution levels and provide much needed exercise. Better bicycles with advanced gear systems will help providing better rides for the people. Companies should allow employees flexible hours so that they can have a pleasant and safe journey to their offices.

Bangalore has 3.5 million registered vehicles. Add a million more from other cities and floating vehicle population and we are talking about a traffic nightmare. 75% of these are motorized two wheelers with the majority of them being driven by youngsters. If they cut their usage, then Bangalore can improve tremendously.

The government should also do the needful in granting subsidies to bicycle purchasers. It should also encourage enterprises to adopt bicycles in a big way. If the whole of India were to adopt bicycles in a big way, it would automatically reduce the oil import burden on the country (thus reducing trade deficits), reduce health care costs & reduce prices of other commodities in general.

A 10-15km ride to the office should not be a difficult task to achieve, I suppose!