Pedalling to Fitness | Cities News,The Indian Express
The number of bicycle users from the bike sharing points in Ahmedabad city grew 10-fold in the 20 months of Covid pandemic from March 2020 to November 2021, a study by students of the CEPT University has found. The study that analysed over 60,500 rides found 70 per cent of them to be for fitness or leisure purposes, than to commute.
Bicycle sharing system known as “AmdaBike — The Public Bicy-cle Sharing System of Ahmed-abad” was formally introduced in the city in December 2019 under the Smart City Ahmedabad Development Limited (SCADL) along with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). As many as 1,000 bicycles were deployed over three months and it began to pick up around September 2020 with Mybyk being the main service provider.
The four-month research involving a survey of Public Bike Sharing System (PBSS) in Ahmedabad city covering around 450 users was done by 29 post-graduate third semester Masters in Urban Management students of the Faculty of Managment.The study also found that almost 18,000 users were lost by January 2022.
“Between July and September 2022, the students analysed nearly 60,500 rides, which was a mix of short and long rides across the city… however, there were patches, which did not attract significant number of rides whereas some areas were high ridership zones,” said Utsav Mishra, one of the students involved in the research.
Bicycles on app-based service parked below an overbridge at the Riverfront. Nirmal Harindran
Out of these analysed rides, 42,000 or more than 70 per cent were leisure and fitness rides. “These were zero displacement rides or rides originating and ending at the same dock,” said Swathy CV, the PG student.
According to the findings, “With workout spaces not opened for users during the Covid pandemic and even parks and gard-ens locked down, residents found a solution in cycling. This was witnessed majorly among age group between 16-35 years, equally among males and females.”
Among the concerns raised by the respondents — both who used and not used the bicycles — were the need to provide immediate assistance in case of breakdowns, accidents,…
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