Tring tring trouble

Andheri-based actor Umar Sharif says his cycle is his primary mode of transport and because his set of wheels cost him Rs 50,000, he prefers to keep it on a wall mounted hanger or in his balcony. Pics/Satej Shinde

The Coronavirus made Indians train their attention to their health and exercising, and found the single user bicycle far safer than other modes of transport that involved strangers to drive them. But, in a city starved of space, it also threw up sundry challenges. Most estimates suggest that 2021 has seen a growth of 20 per cent in cycle sales. But the avenues to safely park the cycles haven't kept up. Most housing colonies don't have a dedicated parking space for cycles, unlike cars and motorbikes. Shrikant Salve recalls that CLI Colony, his residential society in Sion, had only two cycles pre-pandemic. They now house more than eight.

Like with everything else that takes up space, bicycle popularity has become a headache for new cycling enthusiasts who are looking for space to park their two wheelers. Varshil Mehta from Vile Parle had to sell his cycle because he was finding it tough to find a nook to park. "Most people find space to park only on the streets but that's far from safe. Often, it's about getting the security guards to accommodate your request. It can become a constant point of stress."

Most residents have no choice but to park their vehicles in available nooks and crannies on the ground floor of their housing societies

Safia Pereira, a cyclist from Vasai, tells mid-day about the increasing threat that thieves pose to parked cycles, which unlike cars are easy to lift and steal. "While we do have an open space to park, and a rod to lock our cycles in, the fear of rust and maintenance is a concern for me. My cycle is expensive. Since I live on the ground floor, it is easy for me to keep it inside my home and take it out when needed. But residents on the top floors have no choice but to park theirs in the open. What cycle owners need is a closed and safe parking space," she says.

Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria is associate professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He has researched and written about mobility, cycling and the social life of streets. In his project, Cycling in India, Anjaria studied the meaning and role of bicycling in contemporary Mumbai. He says, "People are described as either ‘choice' or ‘captive' cyclists. And the meaning of bicycling is assumed to either be purely functional [as in, it's a tool for survival] or symbolic [it is a way to assert class status]," he mentions in one of his projects available online. When he speaks of symbolism, he is referring to a category of cyclists who can afford other modes of transport, but choose to cycle. Like actor Umar Sharif, a resident of Andheri. Sharif says his Btwin Triban 3 is as valuable as a car to him, one that he washes and maintains daily. "It's unfortunate that most residential colonies and even our roads don't offer designated spaces to park bicycles. You have to find a corner and dump it." Dev Sharma, a resident of Kandivli West owns two cycles and he keeps both of them locked together. "People either lean their cycle against a tree or car and whenever the car owner wants to move the car, we have to go down and move our cycle first." Sharif, whose cycle costed him Rs 50,000 has a wall mounted hanger in his room. Or he keeps it in the balcony. "I like my cycle to be in the perfect shape in terms of cleanliness, oiling and maintenance. I can't afford to keep it anywhere at all because it's my primary mode of transportation," says Sharif, who claims to cycle to shoots if the location is close at hand.

Bandra resident and editor of a news site Naresh Fernandes feels that the greater problem is the lack of space in offices and at public facilities. "Cyclists aren't allowed to enter most privately owned places. Until fairly recently, railway stations had cycle parking sheds. Most of those have now gone or are used only for motorised two-wheelers." Sharif agrees. He says he has cycled to meetings, only to learn that the commercial building doesn't allow for cycle parking. "For people to be able to cycle to work, it would also be necessary to have showers in the office; it can get rather sweaty in Bombay," Fernandes thinks. While talking about his experience of cycling to work in Bombay with New York, he says, "The big difference between the two cities is traffic discipline: in New York, and Berlin, where I've also cycled, motorists respect cycle lanes and the rights of cyclists. Bombay motorists, on the other hand, don't have the same respect for the law."

Sharif who cycles regularly from Andheri to Bandra says that he refused to eat at a Bandra restaurant once because they did not allow him to park his cycle, despite having outdoor seating. Gautam Mansinghani, general manager, operations and development at Perch Wine and Coffee Bar in Union Park, Khar, says that their establishment opened three weeks before the pandemic in 2020 and the strategy that worked for them was to provide cyclists a designated spot. "During the pandemic, a lot of people in our neighbourhood were cycling. So many of them would stop by post their cycling session at Carter Road to grab a coffee or juice," says Mansinghani. It's little surprise that Perch is now a favourite with Sharif.