Why is the Cycle Infrastructure in Mumbai still a Distant Dream?

Mumbai’s cycling community will soon witness a great paradoxical experience. As new Bicycle Councillors are going to be announced on June 8 for hyperlocal assistance for improving cycling infrastructure, the most publicised cycling tracks built in the Bandra-Kurla Complex with 60 crores will soon see a dismantled with another 25 crores put to it. 

But why and how did such an aspirational project fail to exist in Mumbai is the question that, perhaps, also carries the answers for the failure of cycling infrastructure in Mumbai. Firoza Dadan, the first bicycle mayor of the city has even previously called it, “an art installation” and reiterates the same as we speak in a telephonic conversation. 

“The reason behind its failure was that it was built without consulting all the stakeholders,” she says. BKC has been developed into a corporate area. Dadan believes that the corporates, along with the cycling community comprise the major stakeholders for it which were not consulted before laying money on it.”

Connectivity is Core

In a city which is also adjoined by multiple suburbs, and far-flung places that constitute the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region ensuring connectivity is a problem. As of yet, the only conveyance model suitable to the majority has been the local trains due to the connectivity, which the cycling stand in BKC lacked the same. “For any cycling stands to exist in Mumbai, it has to be connected to major stations or areas of the city so that people can commute to work,” Dadan, 54, says. 

Amar Nadgeri, the Bicycle Mayor of the Mira-Bhayandar since 2021 echoes the same sentiment. “How could a resident of the Mira-Bhayander even think of going to the BKC on a cycle?,” asks Nadgeri while showing a comparison with the Mira-Bhayander area which is connected to other islands like Gorai, and Manori. 

While there were cycling tracks before COVID-19, Nadgeri says that it has now, long been encroached on by the two-wheelers for parking. However, he also says that due to the concretisation of the roads in the area, it is still feasible for cyclists to take up cycling. Nadgeri uses a cycle to commute to work through the metro line 2 and 7. 

However, many challenges remain. “The metro authorities do not allow the cycles in the peak hours,” Nadgeri, 41, says. For the same reason, he has written to the MMRDA to allow the folding cycles during peak hours. Just like the new Metro railway lines, the cyclists have been showing faith in the authorities that cycling will be included in last-mile connectivity plans, say both Firoza Dadan and Amar Nadgeri. 

A Vision that Remained Blurry

The plan for the cycle infrastructure in Mumbai goes back to 2009. Two years later, in 2011, a green-coloured cycle track was inaugurated costing Rs. 6 crore. However, owing to the “traffic discipline and lack of enforcement”, it merely became a parking spot for vehicles. 

Back in 2010, the MMRDA also proposed multiple cycling corridors, a plan which also included the Comprehensive Transportation Study (CTS-2) envisioning over 1,000 kilometres of cycling tracks in Mumbai by 2041. However, even it received the same fate and never went beyond the planning.

Ironically, as the plans kept failing, the city’s interest towards cycling grew. Over the last few years, the city has hosted many ‘Cyclathons’ over the weekends on various occasions. A day before the press time for this story, Amar Nadgeri, and his team had also organised a ‘Cyclathon’ to raise awareness towards nature.  Another such event called, ‘Pedal Up Mumbai’ by the NGO Cycle Chala City Bacha, a collective initiative by Firoz Dadan's Smart Commute Foundation will be organised on June 8 in Mumbai. 

While such events organised for one day can still moderate the rest of the traffic on roads, there lie many hurdles should the cycling infrastructure have to prevail.

How biases surround parking

As per a survey conducted by the Mira-Bhayander Cyclists Association, 60% of the respondents, the residents of the area mentioned that they would switch to cycling if adequate facilities of parking is made available. 

Similar to Mira-Bhayander, Mumbai deals with the same problems daily. Along with the residential infrastructure that lacks parking spaces, it is also the corporate areas that lack such facilities in a lot of places. Even with the lack of parking spaces, while car owners get access to many spots, it is the cyclists that have to often face the bias, Nadgeri observes. “There is no dignity attached to cycles as it is with the cars,” he adds.

It, further, highlights the reason as to why the officials do not incorporate the suggestions of cyclists, the mayor notes. “Currently, the majority of those who use the cycles to commute are either milk supplies, dabbawallas, newspaper vendors or others belonging to the same strata of the class,” he points adding that their insights are not considered. 

Mumbai’s everyday issues

As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has missed its own deadline – May 31— to complete the work of concretisation, the problems of the residents residing in those areas remain still. Along with that, the roads have many potholes making them less compatible with the cyclists, observes Dadan. 

Moreover, the chronic problem of Mumbai with its space is another major challenge. Not only are the roads jam-packed, especially, during the rush hours, but the encroachment over the already existing cycling paths and even roads has been an evident norm.

‘Quick Commerce Making it Worse’

Lately, there has been another change- an increasing number of quick commerce delivery personnel on the roads. Firoza Dadan, also the director of Smart Commute Foundation says, “Previously also, cyclists would face the opposite riding by many,” however, she says that it has increased since the inception of the quick commerce.

Quick commerce websites have been running on the formula of shortest delivery time ranging from 10 minutes to 20 minutes creating a sense of hassle among the delivery executives owing to which the cases of opposite riding seem to be on the rise. The demerits of such a hassle have been pointed out by experts on various occasions in many recent debates and discussions over a range of issues like the food quality and the health of the executives.

‘Non-motorised Policy Must Follow’

Taking the survey findings to the corporates, Amar Nadgeri is reaching out to the corporates to consider the parking space for the cyclists and says that only a “collective voice of the cyclists in solidarity can change the scenario”, along with the budget allocation for the need.

Similar to the budget for motorized vehicles, even non-motorised vehicles need to have a policy in place. Citing an example of the ‘Smart City Programme’, Dadan mentioned that the budget could be allocated for it and it worked because there was a policy for it. “Where is the policy for cycle paths in Mumbai?” asks Dadan. 

Back in 2021, Dadan along with other 24 bicycle councillors had proposed the plan for bicycle stands, as a result of which there exist such stands in 23 locations spanning Santacruz, Khar and Bandra. However, other than the policies,she cites the references of Indore, when talking about India and places like Amsterdam and Germany to consider as a role model for the cycling infrastructure. 

“Currently, the plans are made to look glamourous, both for cycling and metros,” Dadan says adding that the government needs to ensure the participation of citizens, MLAs, and urban and transport planners together to create a successful cycling infrastructure.

Dadan, along with the team, will organise a ‘Cycle Bus’ in all the six divisions of MMR where one school per division will be selected for the event. “We will ask children to use the cycles instead of buses,” she says adding that it will take place on Children’s Day and more details will be shared soon.