Now, learn cycling in your neighbourhood for free

In a bid to promote cycling for daily commute, an initiative is coaching Bengalureans to ride bicycles for free. The classes are conducted in and around the participants’ neighbourhood.

Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) has initiated Pedal Shaale while Citizens For Sustainability (CiFoS) is co-ordinating it.

Since its launch in March, seven people have learnt cycling and 25 are under training. The participants are diverse — from kids between 8 and 12 years to people in their 20s and a woman in her early 60s. We have also seen around 30 people drop out, says Nidhi K S who is managing the project from CiFoS, a citizen’s action forum.

The aim is to train people who can’t ride a bicycle, or who are scared to cycle through traffic. The larger goal is to reduce motorised vehicles on the roads and cut down on emissions.

“It is important to put confident, knowledgeable and responsible cyclists on our roads. We want to teach cycling the way driving schools teach motor vehicles at scale,” Nidhi says.

How it works

Pedal Shaale follows the ‘train the trainer, and then train the citizens’ approach.

Currently, it has 23 male and 8 female trainers, comprising mechanics, salespersons and garment factory workers. “They join voluntarily and it’s up to their employers to pay them if they want to,” says Nidhi. They undergo training by Bangalore Bicycling School. These classes are held in Cubbon Park on weekends. Among many things, they are taught how to select a training ground. “The ground should have minimum to no traffic movement and should be paved and slightly inclined,” she adds.

Citizens can request training by filling out a Google Form on DULT’s website. After which, a trainer will contact them and figure out a location and timing convenient for them and even provide a bicycle if they don’t have one.

Active in 15 locations, the programme includes 10 classes but you can request for more. It covers how to sit on a bicycle, balance, pedal, scoot and turn it, and give hand signals, besides safety tips.

Pedal power

Santhosh Krishnamurthy completed the training in June. The 33-year-old from Basavanagudi says his family could not afford a bicycle when he was a child and borrowing one came with the risk of damaging it. He was at home during his college break when his mother told him about the initiative. “Now I plan to cycle to meet my friends and get some exercise,” he says.

Dilsha S, 29, is glad that she no longer has to be a pillion rider when her friends go riding to parks. “My friends would often tease me to go and learn cycling. One day, I had gone to a store to rent a bicycle when the manager there told me about this programme,” the fraud analyst from Madiwala says, explaining why she signed up.

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