A carnival with a concept

Residents of HSR Layout recently woke up to the trills of birds and bicycles and the heartwarming sight of families walking together and helping their children on their bikes. The Layout was re-imagined for a day and the space turned into a joyful carnival as the concept of ‘Open Streets’ was brought to the neighbourhood.

‘Open Streets’ is an initiative to promote cycling, community-centric activities and the use of public transport in an area. It was rolled out by ‘Bengaluru Coalition of Open Streets’ as early as 6 am and supported by various Government bodies such as Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), BMRCL, Bangalore police, BMTC , BBMP and citizen groups like HSR Residents’ Welfare Association and HSR Cyclists group.
  
The event kickstarted with a few warm up exercises at Gnan Srishti School of Excellence and saw families who were ready to ride through their morning. Brij, a professional at Microsoft said, “Today is a good day for children to cycle. It’s dangerous to ride on weekdays because of the traffic jam but the concept of ‘Open Streets’ helps kids cycle confidently.“ Achintya’s parents encourage him to cycle on traffic-ridden roads as well and said that such activities should cease be a one-day event and be held every two months. Sharanya, who had come with her daughter Nethra, said, “HSR Layout, as it is, is a peaceful area. It’s nice to see many walkers and cyclists today since there is no traffic.”

Cyclists from the group, ‘Go Green’ also made their presence felt. Sashi said, “Our group is called wherever cycling events happen around the City. We are happy to cycle around HSR Layout because of the wide roads here and hope that other areas start such initiatives soon.” Residents could rent bicycles from various points in HSR Layout by showing a Government Identity card. Other community events were street plays by BMTC, Awareness Blind Cricket by Samarathana Trust for the Disabled and Storytelling.

Traffic police were posted to prevent fuel-driven vehicles from plying on the road. Chavan, a traffic constable said, “There are various policemen to block traffic and allow only cycles and buses to pass. Essential services like ambulances, fire brigades, police, water tankers and garbage trucks will be allowed. If we see any private vehicle, we will stop them and ask them to use feeder buses.”

   Around 50 additional feeder buses were added by BMTC to commute around HSR and tickets cost as low as Rs 5 and Rs 10.

Manjula V, the Commissioner of DULT said that HSR Layout was chosen for their pilot project as the neighbourhood was energetic in terms of cycling events and citizen-based projects.

   “The Residents’ Welfare Association were supportive in helping us reach out to the area. The Layout is a progressive, developed place where people were open to our ideas. This is a small step to encourage people to use public transport.”    Though it was a challenge to execute the event around seven sectors, she added that the day was only a trigger and based on the result, the organisations would see execute ‘Open Streets’ in other areas. However, certain pressing issues persist. The concept is a one-day solution for alternative traffic and like other awareness campaigns, the hype is short-lived.

Though the day saw a few, initial rough edges, such as confusion of the routes of feeder buses, most found the event a rich ride.