HBC, HMR & UN Habitat enter into an MOU to provide first & last Mile Connectivity to the Metro Rail Passengers
Hyderabad, August 04th, 2016: On the eve of the 70th Independence Day, Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC) is organising a major cycling event viz., Chak De India 2 Ride on Sunday the 7th August, 2016. As you may be aware, Chak De India 1 Ride organized by HBC last year was a spectacular success.
Speaking on the occasion Mr D V Manohar,Chairman, Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC) & All India Bicycling Federation and Board Member, World Cycling Alliance, Brussels; said, this project is serving as a catalyst for other centers to emulate and is being presented as a model project on how a smart city could be developed and sustained, at a very important conference - UN Habitat, which is held once in 20 years and over 100 heads of state will be attending the same. Under the tripartate MoU signed, HMR will give all the required support and place at metro stations. UN Habitat is helping us to access funds.
HBC will establish and operate the project. On successful implementation of the project we will extend the model to other cities. Total cost of this project is Rs 100 crs, which includes hardware and software. It will have two types of bikes - class is bike which is state of the art and costs Rs 50000/- and the other is e-bike which is expensive, considerable number of e-bikes will be available, which are for the first time in India. He said HBC is a not for profit company. Detailed project report is done, the equipment have been ordered for the first station, which should be operational by September end at JNTU. Bicycles will be provided on the first come first serve basis and will be provided only to HBC Members, membership is free, but a nominal operational cost will be collected at Rs 50/- for four hours and Rs 100 for full day, which is very affordable. The setting up of bicycle stations will be in phases to synchronise with the metro stations coming up.
Mr N V S Reddy, MD, Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), said, Hyderabad should be another Hyderabad and not a Shanghai or any other city. A city has to be happy city, safe city, city of enjoyment. He said, if the better off in the city take to bicycles, the other sections too follow. Hyderabad used to be the capital of bicycles along with Amsterdam once upon a time. Talking about curbing usage of personal motorable transport on roads, he cited the example of London, which reduced the width of the roads, increased the width of the sidewalks and introduced congestion fee for cars, so is the case with Singapore.
World has recognised to depend on public transport. Hyderabad should also become a good city and reduce pollution by taking to public transport in the city and move to bicycles. Out of total of 66 stations 63 stations will have bicycle stations with smart card operation, one can seamlessly travel from house to metro station to office and back. This will go a long way to bring down the carbon present. He said the tripartite agreement is a PPP model. Government of Telangana is fully supporting of this project. HMR will be the nodal agency for the project which involves GHMC, HMDA. Speaking about parking space, he said bike stations don't require much space. Twenty stations have been given to L&T for constructing multi-level parking and HMR along with GHMC and HMDA will set up multi level parking in fifteen other stations.
Mr Stephen Yarwood, Urban Futurist & Ex Mayor of Adelaide City, said, every city is different, Hyderabad has to be what it wants to be. The era of cars is over, building of more highways will end, as more roads you build more cars will come and there is no end to widening. We are suffering from an epidemic of car congestion, epidemic of pollution and epidemic of obesity. If you want Hyderabad to be a global brand and a globally competitive city, it's media's responsibility to make the political leaders to think and plan for a livable city. He said, last mile connectivity is absolutely critical.
This year for Chak De India 2 Ride, HBC invited Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Sri Narender Modi ji as the Chief Guest & to flag off the Chak De India 2 Ride. However due to the tight schedule of the PM, the PMO has conveyed the inability of the PM to participate in this programme. The PMO mentioned that the Hon’ble PM is appreciative of HBC’s efforts in promoting cycling and HBC’s major project in collaboration with HMR & UN Habitat. HBC is happy to inform that Mr. Stephen Yarwood, Former Mayor of Adelaide City and Urban Futurist would be the Guest of Honor. A large number of cyclists from all walks of life are expected to participate in this prestigious event.
The Chak De India ride would be flagged off from HBC’s Bike Station at Gachibowli opposite the Bio Diversity Park. Chak De India Ride will have two categories of rides viz., Mass Ride of 10 kms & Competitive Endurance Ride of 50 kms. All the riders would be getting a Certificate, T-shirt, Breakfast, Mechanical & Medical Support etc.
Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC), Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and UN Habitat have entered into a Tripartite MOU to provide first & last Mile Connectivity to the Metro Rail Passengers by setting up about 300 bike stations of which 63 bike stations will be at the forthcoming 63 Metro Stations & the rest will be the feeder stations spread all over Hyderabad. About 10,000 State of the Art Bicycles including e-bikes would be positioned at these Bike Stations which would be issued and taken back using swipe card/smart phone technology. The whole project is totally eco friendly and aimed at considerably reducing the vehicular pollution menace in Hyderabad & make our city more eco friendly. This project also would be the largest Public Bike Sharing(PBS) System of its kind in the world.
The Government of Telangana State is very much supportive of this unique project and passed GO Ms No.150 dtd 25th May, 2016 nominating Hyderabad Metro Rail as the nodal agency to work with us. We are in touch with prospective funders both in India and abroad for raising the required funds and also arranging the margin money from our side.
Above project has already attracted international recognition. Following are the links to UN Habitat, European Cyclists Federation & World Urban Campaign Websites which prominently covered this project:
http://unhabitat.org/moving-towards-electric-mobility-in-hyderabad-india/
https://ecf.com/news-and-events/news/wca-member-organisation-start-active-transport-revolution-india
http://www.worldurbancampaign.org/hyderabad-india----last-mile-connectivity-bicycle-share-system-0
Mr D V Manohar, Chairman, HBC had the privilege of speaking about above project at the Velo-City Global 2016 viz. the World Cycling Conference at Taipei in March, 2016 & also “BiciRio" the Brazilian cycling conference at Rio De Janeiro in June 2016 wherein this project was appreciated by the delegates from all over the world.
UN Habitat is very much excited by this unique project and would be showcasing this project as a model to be emulated by the developing cities across the world at the Habitat III conference at Quito, Ecuador happening in mid-October, 2016. Habitat III conference is being hosted by United Nations and expected to be attended by 30,000 delegates including Heads of State from all over the world. Habitat III will be finalizing the World’s Urban Agenda for the next 20 years.
The above shows the World’s recognition for the good work being done by HBC, with the support of well wishers like you.
Hyderabad Bicycling Club (HBC) emerged as the World’s largest Cycling Club online overtaking the Denver Front Range Cycling Club, USA to achieve the same. HBC has grown multiple times in the past few years to reach the present membership strength of over 12,000 members. HBC Bike Stations at Gachibowli and Necklace Road have transformed our city, resulting in more and more people taking to cycling. In association with GHMC, HMDA, Hyderabad Metro Rail & City Police, HBC is aggressively promoting Cycling and Cycling to Work Campaign.
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