On Sunday at noon, in Jayanagar, a little girl took her cycle out for a ride. She rode all the way up the main road to Ashoka Pillar, where she deftly turned her cycle around and rode back. Alone, and in perfect safety.

Even on a Sunday afternoon, when traffic is comparatively less, that is not something you want to see a child doing. Not if you live in any other part of Bengaluru. But the impeccably tarred stretch from Ashoka Pillar to Madhavan Park in Jayanagar has a clearly demarcated cycle lane. For many kids who spend their childhood behind their Playstations, and who can’t be entrusted to traffic laden roads, the cycling paths are a blessing. City administrations that jaw endlessly about going ‘green’, can accomplish this to a large extent by adding cycle tracks like this one and encouraging non-motorised transport.

Sadly, cars and autos use this area as a parking spot and telling them what it really is will get you nothing more than a “Oh, really? Is that what this is?” The cycling paths owe their existence to Murali H.R., who stands on the side of the road beside his cycle with a camera. “I’m preparing a report for the government,” he says, as he busily snaps away at the autos and cars that obstruct the cyclists’ path. “This is going to be a no-parking area soon. Moreover, we want to increase the fine for violators to `250 instead of `100.”

Stringent penalties for parking rule violators are only the culmination of a long journey for Murali H.R., Pradeep Banavara and Dr H.S. Sudhira. The story began when Murali decided to take a five-year sabbatical and see the world. “In Paris, I found I was confined to my room because I didn’t have any means of transport,” says Murali. “That’s when a friend told me I could hire a cycle, which I did. I saw a great deal of Paris in just that one day and then took to the highway, where I covered 80 km over the course of a day.”

The Namma Cycle Foundation, which is the name of this initiative, has come up with a simple process for hiring a cycle. Just sign in with a registration form and the bicycle will be available to you for rent through a network of nodes or stations. A central supply system for bicycles ensures that they will be available at all times at all nodes. A node manager will record the transaction using a mobile phone application.

After his holiday ended, Murali says he knew what Bengaluru needed — cycle tracks. The automobile culture was going to be the city’s ruin. “We met Gaurav Gupta (now commissioner, BWSSB) and he gave us a lot of support, so our relations with the government were greatly strengthened,” explains Murali. Of course, there were things they managed on their own, like cycle stands — you will find one on St Mark’s Road.

“We wanted to connect schools and give kids a way to travel because they can’t drive around until they’re 18. This way, they won’t have to rely on their parents all the time.” Pradeep Banavara, the brain behind the Ride a Cycle Foundation, organises 900km cycling tours of the Nilgiri Hills, with the philosophy, “We can do 150 km in one day, why can’t you do 15?” “France is our inspiration,” elaborates Murali. “We want to bring about bicycle sharing as well, so people can stop at one stand, pick up a cycle and drop it off at a stand close to wherever they are headed.”

Bicycles, they feel, are Bengaluru’s way out of the urban chaos into which it has been thrown, simply unable to meet the needs of the thousands of people who find their way here every day. “Riding cycles also fosters a sense of equality; the government tends only to the rich but with a venture like this, the division between the rich and the poor vanishes,” says Murali.

Sunday mornings might just go back to what they used to be for all those who knew and loved Bengaluru in her former glory — trees lining the pavements, their branches shading the roads, very
little traffic, crisp climate and clean, fresh air. That dream is one we all await with bated breath.