2 weeks Ago By Omjasvin M D
1 2 3 Chennai: The 17-crore smart cycling project launched in Chennai in 2017 as part of the smart city mission is in ruins. The App is long defunct and the 109 docking stations and 1,125 cycles exist only on paper. Cycles were stolen or vandalised tyres punctured, seats torn and chains rusted.
The Hyderabad-based contractor — Smart Bikes Mobility Limited — has been absent for over a year, with no fines or accountability enforced. A study by the New Delhi School of Planning, published in Transport Research Procedia last week, showed ridership had declined from 1,500 a day pre-pandemic to less than 600 by 2022. Hardly anyone uses the few cycles that remain now.
Encroachments, mismanagement, and road-digging for civic projects accelerated the system's decline post-pandemic. Today, cycle tracks have vanished from major roads such as Kamarajar Salai, Besant Avenue, KK Nagar, Anna Nagar, and Anna Salai, with bunk stalls or parked vehicles taking the space. Increasing the number of docking stations, maintaining cycle tracks, and setting more stations near transport hubs could improve usage, the study said.
Pavan Kumar Machavarapu, assistant professor at the institute and author of the study, said GCC merely implemented the scheme to match the green mobility criteria of the smart city without any user profile or area-based planning. "Chennai just has cycle tracks in long and broad corridors, serving no purpose. If someone comes out of the metro station and wants to go to a residential or commercial area, there is no docking station to drop the cycle, nor are there cycle tracks in places where they are needed.
This lack of last-mile connectivity discouraged users," he said. Further, there was no option for non-App-based payments. "Not everyone can download the App to pay.
Without a live data feed, crucial decisions on relocating cycles to busy junctions could also not be done," he said, adding that the initiative was never expanded to all parts of the city. The system covered just 43 sq km of Chennai's 426 sq km area, with only one docking station per square kilometre — far below the required three or four. GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said the contractor has not turned up for more than a year.
"We will take a call on reviving the policy. Civic works have taken up much of the city's road space now, and once most basic infrastructure works are over, this could take off," he said. Chennai: The 17-crore smart cycling project launched in Chennai in 2017 as part of the smart city mission is in ruins.
The App is long defunct and the 109 docking stations and 1,125 cycles exist only on paper. Cycles were stolen or vandalised tyres punctured, seats torn and chains rusted. The Hyderabad-based contractor — Smart Bikes Mobility Limited — has been absent for over a year, with no fines or accountability enforced.
A study by the New Delhi School of Planning, published in Transport Research Procedia last week, showed ridership had declined from 1,500 a day pre-pandemic to less than 600 by 2022. Hardly anyone uses the few cycles that remain now. Encroachments, mismanagement, and road-digging for civic projects accelerated the system's decline post-pandemic.
Today, cycle tracks have vanished from major roads such as Kamarajar Salai, Besant Avenue, KK Nagar, Anna Nagar, and Anna Salai, with bunk stalls or parked vehicles taking the space. Increasing the number of docking stations, maintaining cycle tracks, and setting more stations near transport hubs could improve usage, the study said. Pavan Kumar Machavarapu, assistant professor at the institute and author of the study, said GCC merely implemented the scheme to match the green mobility criteria of the smart city without any user profile or area-based planning.
"Chennai just has cycle tracks in long and broad corridors, serving no purpose. If someone comes out of the metro station and wants to go to a residential or commercial area, there is no docking station to drop the cycle, nor are there cycle tracks in places where they are needed. This lack of last-mile connectivity discouraged users," he said.
Further, there was no option for non-App-based payments. "Not everyone can download the App to pay. Without a live data feed, crucial decisions on relocating cycles to busy junctions could also not be done," he said, adding that the initiative was never expanded to all parts of the city.
The system covered just 43 sq km of Chennai's 426 sq km area, with only one docking station per square kilometre — far below the required three or four. GCC commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said the contractor has not turned up for more than a year. "We will take a call on reviving the policy.
Civic works have taken up much of the city's road space now, and once most basic infrastructure works are over, this could take off," he said..
