Now that lockdowns and mobility restrictions are gradually being lifted, the all-too-familiar sight of traffic jams is back in our metros. The sea of cars and personal vehicles often seen on our roads belie the widespread reportage of the automobile sector going through a lean patch. However, thanks to the virus-driven social distancing practices, there has been an upside too.

More people than ever before are taking to cycling as an everyday mode of transport for short and medium distance trips – thereby trying to wrest control of the road spaces from the cars and other motorised vehicles.                    

Colossal numbers, colossal costs

A staggering 1.6 million were registered in a single month last year translating into over 51,000 vehicles being added to Indian roads in a single day. Although Mumbai is the most car-congested city with a density of 510 private cars every kilometre, Delhi has a whopping 10 million vehicles on its roads. It is no coincidence that Delhi also happens to rank among the five most polluted cities in the world according to the World Air Quality Report 2019.

What is even more striking is that the next two most polluted cities in India – Noida and Gurgaon - as well as the most polluted city in the world, namely, Ghaziabad – also happen to border the national capital testifying to the innate linkage between vehicular population and pollution.

In a damning report by Greenpeace South Asia in February this year, it has been revealed that about a million deaths occur in India every year on account of exposure to fossil fuels alone with the economy incurring an annual loss of a humongous Rs. 10.7 lakh crore (US$150 billion). Otherwise, due to traffic congestion in four of the big cities, the country is estimated to lose 1.5 lakh crore ($21 billion) yearly.

A behavioural wind of change already underway

Nonetheless, COVID-19 has triggered a fresh wave of changes in our everyday habits and behaviour. From regularly wearing masks in public to being exceedingly cautious about personal hygiene to avoiding crowded places and maintaining distance, a set of behavioural changes has already come to redefine how we live our everyday lives. Lesser use of public transport including autorickshaws, cycle rickshaws, and taxis as well as car-sharing practices is another shift necessitated by the COVID-19 outbreak. This has led to a surge in people using cycles for short to medium distance travel. Restricted access to gyms and apprehensions about working out in parks and other open spaces has also pushed more people to take up to fitness cycling.

Cycling not only addresses the need for exercise but also allows people to maintain social distancing not to mention the cleaner air that we get to breathe. Psychologically, the mere feeling of ‘being free’ pedaling away from one place to another in an open-air mode instantly lifts up the mood and lends all-round positivity.

COVID-19 has ushered in a global movement for cycling and India is slowly catching up to that trend with cycling to work, cycling for leisure and fitness becoming more acceptable than ever before. In June, there was a 25 percent rise in country-wide sales of bicycles compared to the average monthly sales in pre-COVID period. 

Both normal road bikes and premium fitness segment cycles have seen a surge in sales depicting the all-round usage. An Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) study has forecast that post-lockdown, cycling is set to increase by 50 to 60 percent in cities across the country.

A one-shot cure

So, as lockdowns ease and the humble cycle reclaims its rightful space on the Indian roads, it offers a one-shot cure for three of the vexed issues perennially confronting our policymakers: traffic congestion, pollution, and health of our people. No less than India's Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) had recently issued a communiqué stating that cycling for short distances can yield an annual benefit of Rs 1.8 trillion to the Indian economy, while potentially increasing personal fuel savings by over Rs 27 billion. This recognition at the policymaking level is an encouraging start.

Lack of safe cycling road infrastructure and an absence of cycling culture are the main deterrents to mass uptake of cycling in crowded and congested cities. While we are still a long way from making cycling one of the main modes of urban transport, the pandemic has definitely served to mainstream cycling among the urban youth.

This much-needed respect must lay the ground for a major cycling revolution in India. Since the relaxing of lockdown restrictions on June 1, the pollution levels in many of our metros seem to be going back to the pre-lockdown levels with Mumbai seeing a 60 percent jump in NO2. Promoting cycling as a mode of transport can prevent this from happening.

(The writer is Chairman and Managing Director of Hero Motors Company (HMC). The views expressed are personal)