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