Dedicated bicycle lane soon
The City will soon have a dedicated bicycle lane at Jayanagar and Basavanagudi and an exclusive cycling zone in Electronic City, if a proposal of the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) is implemented.
Disclosing this at a workshop on ‘Bangalore Mobility Indicators 2009 - Pedestrian Policy and Parking Policy for Bangalore Metropolitan Region’ recently, Mohammed Mohsin, Director of Urban Land Transport said a detailed project report has been sought to examine its feasibility. “An exclusive cycle zone for the Electronic City will take off shortly, as a pilot project of the DULT, in partnership with the Electronic City Industries’ Association and Ride a Cycle Foundation,” Mohsin said.
DULT officials said, the project worth Rs 41 lakh at Electronic City will be taken up on a public-private-partnership basis with the government providing land for parking and the private player providing cycles.
Kathyayini Chamraj of CIVIC, an NGO said the draft policy has left out the disabled in its report and also called for footpaths to have a standard and regulated height as opposed to the irregular and uneven footpaths in different parts of the City. Another participant said while preparing the final report, the government may take up initiatives such as converting Brigade Road and Commercial Street in the Central Business District (CBD) as ‘Pedestrian Only’ zones, charging more parking fee for vehicle parking and construction of multi-level parking complexes in identified areas.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) MD N Sivasailam said the final policy will provide last mile connectivity to pedestrians and will take Bangalore Metro and BMTC buses as bench marks for making public transport a priority.
Officials from the DULT said a proposal to charge vacant and empty seats in private vehicles plying on the road could be considered in future to discourage the increasing number of cars.
