Last year, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the world, and India went under a complete lockdown, the section that was worst affected was that of migrant workers. With no proper savings and absolutely no employment, they had to leave their places and go back to their villages to survive. In a rush, one thing that every migrant worker-owned but left behind were their bicycles.
Lawyer turned IAS officer of the 2018 batch and an alumnus of one of the World’s most prestigious universities – The Oxford University, Mr. Vikramaditya Malik came up with an outstanding idea to utilize these discarded bikes to promote fitness and control pollution in the city. In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, he talks about his unique initiative – ‘Bikes of Bijnor.’
IDEATION OF THE PROGRAM
During the unexpected lockdown, the Bijnor administration managed to send the workers to their respective villages by arranging special busses and trains. But it wasn’t possible to send their bicycles along with them. Therefore, the administration took the workers’ details to coordinate later on.
While Mr. Malik was visiting a far-off area, he noticed these cycles were stacked up at various police chowkis facing severe wear and tear through rain and flooding. As many as 410 cycles were lying abandoned.
“That’s when I decided to set up a waste-to-wealth public bike-sharing program. After discussing with the DM, a valuation exercise was carried out by an independent committee, and cycles were valued at their existing condition. Further, we contacted the owners of the bicycles and asked them to either come back and take their cycles or accept Rs. 600/- as compensation for their cycles and give them up for public use,” Mr. Malik told Indian Masterminds.
BIKES OF BIJNOR
Many laborers were not reachable on the numbers provided, and many refused to provide their bank account details. Ultimately, around 100 people gave their account details for receiving the amount. Hence, the project was started as a pilot with 100 cycles initially.
The next step was to repair and renovate the depreciated cycles and convert them into working conditions. For this, the idea was that a new cycle costs around Rs. 3000/- and since Rs. 600/- per cycle had already been paid to the migrant labor, the repair of the cycles would be capped at a maximum of Rs. 900/-
Said Mr. Malik, “We employed local mechanics and ‘mistris’ with small cycle repair shops, who worked dedicatedly on the project for about three weeks, to give shape to the newly renovated cycles. To bring uniformity, all cycles were painted in a bright yellow color, which would make them easily recognizable across the city, and prevent any possibility of thefts.”
The repair and renovation work of the cycles provided substantial business opportunities to the local mechanics. Hence, the process was a win-win for all.
Mr. Malik chose the most frequented places by people, such as bus stands, big crossings, etc., to create cycle stands so that people could easily use them.
HOW TO USE?
Mr. Malik then went on to design the logo and brand the initiative across the district. “We got local painters to paint the logo on the walls and the cycle stands. We also got a Flexi at every stand, to show where the rest of the stands are, and mentioned all the terms and conditions for using the cycles,” he told Indian Masterminds.
The process to ride a bicycle is simple: Anyone can pick up a cycle from the stands, by submitting his name, mobile number, and government ID number along with Rs. 5. He or she is then given a token by the stand manager, indicating the time and which cycle number the person has taken.
The cost of using a cycle is nominal – Rs. 5/- for four hours and Rs. 10/- for twelve hours. The cycle can then be deposited at any stand by submitting the token before the stand manager and paying the balance amount. The idea behind the rate chart is that a single ride on auto-rickshaw costs around Rs. 10/- whereas, in that much amount, a person can rent a cycle for the entire day for multiple rides.
“Stand managers have been chosen in a way to further promote ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. They are locals like tea-shop owners, a roadside helmet seller, a panwadi, and a differently-abled cycle repair shop owner,” Mr. Malik added.
BENEFITS OF BIKES OF BIJNOR
`Bikes of Bijnor’ seeks to leverage the fitness culture and extend it to other residents of the city, who normally undertake bike rides as a substitute to other means of transport, in order to promote fitness and healthy living.
Moreover, it aims at decongesting traffic and promoting sustainability and a clean environment. It dissuades people from using motor vehicles and the resultant use of fuel, especially for short distances, and also provides a solution to parking hassles within the city.
Many residents of Bijnor are now taking to the public bike-sharing program, as an effective and alternate means of transportation.
