Bike here, bikes everywhere

London is full of cyclists. Poor innocent me thought the people of this city are really health conscious and how cool that they cycled everywhere. Sukhwant Basra writes.

London is full of cyclists. Poor innocent me thought the people of this city are really health conscious and how cool that they cycled everywhere. That may be the case for some, but it certainly isn’t the real reason for all those pedalling about. Turns out that central London entails a daily congestion charge of £10 (Rs 871) between 0700 to 1800 hours.

HT Image

Then, parking charges hover above £10 for a day too. One would presume that public transport makes more sense. Sure, but only marginally as even trains work out to be expensive.

Meanwhile, cycling costs nothing. With huge investment in cycle routes, the government has also done its bit to peddle pedal power. Smart thinking, I say. Get your citizens fitter and also reduce the number of cars on the road! Now, let’s see this replicated in the traffic madhouse called Delhi.