Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) is going to introduce a public bicycle sharing scheme at BRTS corridor in December this year although people in Bhopal have termed it wastage of money.
BMC will develop 50 bicycle sharing stations for 500 German bicycles across the city, after Nextbike director Sebastian Schlebusch came to Bhopal.
Leader of opposition in BMC council and senior Congress corporator Mohammad Sageer said, “In a city where sewerage and supply of drinking water are the major issues, BMC and the government is busy in copying foreign countries. Presently, there is no lane for bicycles and in the name of development of lanes...they will make money from them.”
Bhopal City Link Limited (BCLL) administrative manager Rohit Yadav said, “There is no doubt of non-feasibility of the project as the decision has been taken only after detailed project report (DPR). The project will run in public private partnership mode and BMC will spend Rs 2.95 crore to promote non-motorised vehicles. Initially, the stations will start at BRTS corridor and our target users will be students.”
Even students are not excited about the scheme. Kajal Singh, an engineering student, said, “In the era of speed, who will ride bicycles on rent to cover the distance? In Bhopal, I hardly saw any person on bicycle because roads are not so favourable for bicycle rides.”
{{/usCountry}}Even students are not excited about the scheme. Kajal Singh, an engineering student, said, “In the era of speed, who will ride bicycles on rent to cover the distance? In Bhopal, I hardly saw any person on bicycle because roads are not so favourable for bicycle rides.”
{{/usCountry}}“In a city where there is no space for footpaths for paedestrians, the plan of sharing bicycles is looking foolish. I don’t believe that any survey can suggest BMC that public bicycle sharing would be successful in Bhopal. Instead of spending crores of rupees on this project, BMC should concentrate on plantations, make lakes pollution-free and develop parks. Such projects are increasing corruption as the mayor of the city belongs to ruling party and BMC officers are taking advantage of it,” said Abdul Jabbar, convener of NGO Sadprayas.