Dedicated cycling tracks may be the way out for congested city

With an aim to rally support of building dedicated cycling lanes in a city that has seen unprecedented rise in vehicular traffic along with the pollution levels, two Swedish students are preparing a plan to promote the use of cycles here. The Swedish duo, Lina Hellstrom and Oscar Berjstrom, both students of urban planning at the Plekinge and Technical University, are in Mumbai for the last two months researching the possibility.

The duo, who is almost done with their research work, says there are many a reason why the city desperately needs a cycling project. Admitting to their desire to visit Mumbai and India, which has motivated them to accept the challenge, Berjstrom said," We feel a city like Mumbai needs more usage of an environment friendly travel pattern and hence we have selected this project and this place." The team has divided the tasks amongst themselves as Hellstrom is doing a macro research plan for the entire city, Berjstrom has selected the area from Dadar east to Matunga and Wadala.

The duo has been interacting with the people using bicycles and discussing the security issues with them. " Most people are amazed with the idea of having a dedicated cycle lane and are convinced that the move will motivate cycling habits amongst the citizens," said Hellstrom.

The main issue faced by the students was the immense traffic on city roads and irregular flow of traffic. They also didn't have any substantiate data to assist them in their research.

" Since no such thing has ever happen in Mumbai we didn't have much data to rely on and have to start from scratch," said Hellstrom.

Faizan Jawed, a transport expert is mentoring the couple. He said " the idea is great and we will try and meet all the key people to try and implement this in reality as it would be very helpful for the city". Though during the research the government authorities have not shown any interest, the duo is hopeful that the government authorities would appreciate their efforts as they plan to send the proposal to the concerned officials once the project is finalized. " We would be finishing the final project by February- end and then would try to suggest the government to follow the module," said Berjstrom.