Many cities are replacing cars with bicycles. What are the reasons for this? Which do you think is better?
Many cities are replacing cars with bicycles
Of late, several cities
across the world have been opting for bicycles and discouraging the use of
personal four wheelers. This can be attributed to numerous causes, the planners
cite humongous benefits of such a swing. However, some still feel the cars are
irreplaceable.
The most prominent motivation behind urban authorities bringing in
bicycles and shelving cars is to ease up road congestion. Over the past few
years, the number of private four wheelers had witnessed a spike, resulting in
traffic snarls, thereby dramatically reducing the travelling speeds: in some
cities the traffic struggles at speeds as slow as 10km per hour. Reintroducing cycles has helped remove a
large number of four wheelers, providing much relief to the road users by
cutting down the travelling times.
Another objective that the local governments have been able to
attain, afford safer roads to the city dwellers. Since cars have nearly
disappeared from such urban landscapes, the incidence of reckless driving has
drastically diminished. Consequently, the number of road mishaps involving erring
car drivers have dwindled. The studies of surroundings suggest that the road
users feel more secure while traversing across the city.
The use of cars finds favors with those wedded to the idea of
travelling along with their family wherever they go. For such people, pedaling individually
is quite unappealing: they do not get opportunity to share the lighter
movements, whereas while using a car they can derive the pleasure by being
together, sharing their views and concerns, and experiencing excitement
of moving together.
Overall, I strongly feel that even though choosing bicycles instead of cars for the urban surroundings is surely a positive move, completely abandoning the use of the latter is nearly impossible, especially in the contemporary times when people face scarcity of time.
