Pedal Pushers ease traffic jams

Students from NMIMS have found a way around traffic-congestion in the city, which is taking them all the way to the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative Summit in Melbourne

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It was the long wait for a bus ride to Mahalaxmi railway station that sparked off the idea for Cycle-Chalao, says 22-year-old Raj Janagam. He still remembers how it was a lot quicker to do the grocery-shopping or get to college on a bicycle from his home in a Worli Chawl.

Jyotika Bhatia, Jui Gangan and Raj Janagam started Cycle-Chalao in
January 2010

Eventually, when he met like-minded colleagues, Jui Gangan (23) and Jyotika Bhatia (22), the convenience of a bicycle led to a social-centric business. Like most of us, the three would often be stranded on their way to their university when no rickshaw driver would pay heed to their requests for a ride. Determined to find a solution for this routine annoyance, the three set up I-initiate, a group that would serve as the nest for their ideas and through which they would organise all the facets of their dream-project, Cycle-Chalao.

u00a0For their first model, the trio narrowed down on Mulund's Vaze Kelkar College, which they felt was ideal because of its proximity to the railway station and its successive batch-timings. "Here, on an average, students had to wait for about 15 minutes for an auto-rickshaw. We also found out that it took the same time to cycle from the station to college," explains Raj. He also points out, "60 to 70% of Mumbai students agreed they would gladly commute on bicycles, given a choice." The option not only cuts carbon footprints and savesu00a0 the student's time and money, it also offers them a workout.

Through the extensive research they conducted with the help of PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) and Unlimitedindia.org, they found out that students did not commute on their own cycles mainly because of traffic-congestion, road-rage, parking and security. Keeping these factors in mind, the Cycle-Chalao model has been created in such a way that it immediately eliminates parking and security concerns and by using by-lanes, traffic is also easily avoided.

"We have set up stations at different points and subscribers are given a card which they must show to pick up or drop off a bicycle," Raj shares, pointing out that in the Kelkar College model, there are just two stations and subscribers paid Rs 175 a month. "All 30 subscriptions we offered were taken up in the first week of our launch in January 2010," Raj enthuses. Advertisements at the stations and on the bicycles are their main sources of income, however, and Raj reveals that plans are currently underway to implement the economically and ecologically sound project in Powai's Hiranandani Park as well as withinu00a0 Pune city.

Thrilled that their project has already won numerous accolades, including the first prize at the GRLI (Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative) competition which was open to all MBA students from around the world, Raj says, "Our work has only begun," and explains that the organisation now hopes to elicit the support of the city's youth to help with their ambitious plans of developing a cycle-friendly environment. "It may not be possible to get a dedicated lane for cyclists on main roads, but what we need is for motorists to treat cyclists with respect rather than disdain and road-rules that afford cyclists the right of way."

To help I-initiate and Cycle-Chalao further their cause, Call 98679870 31, or Log onto www.cyclechalao.com

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