Urban mobility expert bats for passing of Active Mobility Bill 

Urban mobility expert pushes for passing the Active Mobility Bill in Karnataka to prioritize cyclist and pedestrian safety.

The Active Mobility Bill holds promise to ensure safety for cyclists, among other things, and needs to be passed in the Legislative Assembly, said Satya Arikutharam, an urban mobility expert.

Participating in a panel discussion on “Are Our Roads Only For Motor Vehicles? How Do We Change This?” here on Saturday, he said, “This Bill was conceived three years ago by getting inspired by what is happening in the world in sustainable mobility. Singapore and Berlin have their own specific active mobility bills. These countries foresaw that sustainable mobility would be the key, cycles would become a lifestyle element and make sure infrastructure enabled people to switch to this. The Government of Karnataka prepared a draft and put it out for public consultation and got more than 600 responses from the public. The Bill then was sent to the government for legislation and the Karnataka govt is sitting on it.”

“We always hear about road widening but never hear about footpaths coming up. This Bill will be practical if this becomes law as all urban local bodies in Karnataka will be obligated to provide infrastructure to cyclists and pedestrians. We are trying to get more action on this and hoping in this upcoming budget session, this Bill will see light. If this bill gets implemented, Karnataka will become the Netherlands of Asia,“ he added.

The discussion was part of Pedaluru, a cycling event that also included “The Altmo Challenge,” a 90-day corporate cycling initiative organised by the Council for Active Mobility (CFAM) to promote cycling as an active means of mobility. The event celebrated cycling as a mode of transportation, recreation, and climate action while also promoting road safety and sustainable urban living.

As many as 154 cyclists, including corporate participants, participated in a 4.5 km group ride starting from the Institute of Agricultural Technologists, Queens Road.

Ewout de Wit, Consul-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for South India, shared how the Netherlands transitioned from being car-centric to becoming a country having cyclist-friendly infrastructure. He said that 50 years ago, the Netherlands were also car-centric, but people demanded safer streets and better quality of living, after which the government there pivoted to building safer and cyclist-centric infrastructure, and that’s how they are where they are right now.

“We are also working to sensitise motorists and launched #keepmesafe in collaboration with road safety authorities,” said Satya Sankaran, Bicycle Mayor of Bengaluru.