Where is the Cycle Chacha?

Being a kid from ninety eighties I remember Hyderabad being in par with developed countries. It had an amazing culture of having a bicycle sharing program. Now don’t get me wrong, it was in no par with London or Paris where there are bicycle sharing programs with GPS installed and are rented by swiping credit cards. There used to be an old Cycle Chacha(uncle) who would be repairing bicycles everyday in his greasy old bicycle shop. He had all kinds of cycles from the small 2 feet tall cycles which we used to rent for a rupee an hour and the big bicycles which people would rent it for a whole day. I used to love going there because I used to like playing with steal balls from the broken ball bearings. The system was wholly based on trust and honesty.  Cycle Chacha used to rent the big bicycles only to the people he knew and the small ones to kids of the ilaka(Community). We had to be introduced by someone if we were new to that area. It was part of our holiday curriculum to rent the cycles on weekends or mostly during summer holidays. As a kid with no watch, giving the bicycle on time was always a challenge.

With the communities growing leaps and bounds and the trust between neighbours diminishing every day, the cycle chachas of Hyderabad have slowly started disappearing right when there is a need for bicycle sharing program for this city. With ever increasing vehicular population, Hyderabad is one of the fastest growing cities where there is a big need for a healthy and sustainable mode of transportation. What better than the age old bicycle which has helped people transport and kept them fit all those years. I remember my uncles telling me how they travelled from one end of the city to another on rented cycles. It’s a different story now how it is almost impossible to rid your bicycle through the city traffic with uneven roads in the midst of the pollution. But the need for a transportation system which does not pollute and which makes life comfortable is the need of the hour.

To start a bicycle sharing program in Hyderabad, it needs to be a mix of traditional methods and modern technology to survive. Staring a program like in Europe with fancy gizmos attached to bicycle might not really work with all sections of the society. Why I say we need a mixed approach is mainly because we are moving into an era where we dump machines as and when they stop working. Bike sharing not only cuts down on maintenance but also helps in saving time in travelling smaller distances.

What the city needs is biking friendly policies and their implementation. There are a few places in the cities where biking is being promoted as a form of recreation and exercise but what the city needs is a bigger platform where people feel comfortable to drive around safely to work. We need a system which encourages people to choose healthier choices and solves the problem with traffic. To start with converting Universities and colleges into vehicle free zones helps generate the awareness and motivates students.