City on cycle-friendly track: Dutch expert

Good morning friend.  There are a lot of good things to say to our country, specially to our city.  That’s why after reading some articles I want also every one to know about it.  Let me give you some ideas of what I’m talking about.

The city has all the ingredients required to become a bicycle-friendly city, believes transport planner with ITC Geo-Information Institute, Netherlands, Dr Mark Zuidgeest. Right from the average trip distance of commuters to the possibility of ensuring a set-up necessary for bicycling.

But first, a proper prioritization of roads is necessary before ensuring that infrastructure for bicycles is brought in place along major roads. Zuidgeest emphasises on identification of roads as main arterial roads, distributor roads and access roads.

“In a city like Enschede in Netherlands, all roads marked access roads’, which take you to the doorstep of an office or a commercial area, have exclusive bicycle lanes and pedestrian pathways and entry to cars to these places is restricted. But then, a bicycle network is required in the first place to ensure this access, right from where a person lives to his routine destination. A massive awareness drive that propagates bicycling is required as it’s not a culture in this city. The city administration has to create a conducive atmosphere for bicycling by providing more greenery along the lanes,” adds Zuidgeest.

One of the most favourable conditions for bicycling in Ahmedabd according to Zuidgeest is the average trip distance of commuters in the city which is 4.6 km and less, which is an apt trip distance that favours bicycling. In fact experts suggest that one of the major requirements for bicycle systems is a proper parking space for the cycles.

“In Netherlands we have a three-metre wide bicycle lane with exclusive traffic lights which is being synchronised with the main carriageway traffic lights. The priority is for pedestrains followed by the bicyclists and then the cars. The traffic laws in Netherlands pin the blame on a car rider if a bicyclist is hit by a car. Even rotaries which are devoid of the traffic lights have a round about path for the bicycles,” says Zuidgeest.