Bhubaneswar: With a plan to promote eco-friendly, non-motorised transportation in the city, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to come up with a bicycle sharing project for the city.
According to sources, BMC will initially buy 1000 bicycles, and the tender for the project will be floated within two months. Significantly, the civic body has urged the Public Works Department (PWD) to construct cycle tracks along the arterial roads as part of the project.
“We have asked the PWD to construct cycle tracks from Raj Bhavan to Patia and from airport to Nandankanan. A separate track will ensure safety of the riders,” said a top BMC official.
In fact, BMC has also decided to install GPS system in the cycles for tracking their location and preventing theft. As per the plan, the corporation will set docking points at major locations for collection of cycles. Accordingly, the city will have more than 10 docking points and BMC would collect only a nominal fee from the users.
‘‘We will give the docking points to private people who will collect user fee. The BMC will fix the rates and monitor the performance of the facility. The users can drop the bikes collected from one docking point to another docking point,” said the officials.
With the capital struggling to manage rising level of air pollution created by burgeoning number of automobiles, the BMC recently held discussions with electric vehicle
(e-vehicle) manufactures for understanding the infrastructural needs of e-vehicles.
In fact, the representatives expressed their concerns like cost of battery, lack of charging infrastructure and difficulties of funding these vehicles. Top BMC officials assured the participants these issues will be sorted out and the city requires the necessary infrastructure for e-vehicles.
Significantly, the BMC has formed a high-level steering panel comprising senior urban and transport officials for preparing a comprehensive policy for electric vehicles in the state. Completion of the project will help improve the city’s air quality significantly.
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