MAY 20188easy win for governments and urban societies, which can boost their green credentials by embracing such an envi-ronmentally friendly design.In 2004, only 11 cities had adopted bike sharing. Today, more than 1,000 public bicycle schemes of varying sizes and specifications run in more than 50 countries, across five continents.Public Bike Sharing: A Growing Phenomena Despite being clean and green with a host of health ben-efits, cycling is really popular in only a few countries. Po-tential accidents, the lack of a cycle-friendly infrastruc-ture and worries about rain and cold keep many from hopping on a two-wheeled horse, even though bicycles are fast, clean, healthy and inexpensive. In the UK, US and Australia, for example, only about 1 per cent of all journeys are made on a bike. But there are exceptions, of course: in the Netherlands, the number is 27 per cent, and in Danish capital Copenhagen, over half the population s urbanisation and modernisation reach unprecedented levels, road congestion has become a modern day menace. Heavy traf-fic is associated with air pollution, safety risks, and losses in terms of accessibility, economic competitiveness, and sustainable growth. There are a number of measures available to ad-dress this problem; either by restricting convention-al car use or providing viable alternatives. None of these solutions is more up-and-coming and market-able right now than the shared use of mobility re-sources ­ for example, car sharing. And none of them more environmentally friendly than cycling, which more and more people see as a realistic way of mak-ing shorter trips.Put these two together, and you get bike shar-ing: an innovation that combines the best qualities of both solutions, while extending the reach and scope of public transport. To be clear, bike sharing refers to rental schemes, whereby civilians can pick up, ride and drop off bicycles at numerous points across the city ­ usually at automated stations.Now, bike sharing is booming at an unprecedent-ed rate, largely due to the reasonably low cost of the schemes, and how easy they are to implement com-pared with other transport infrastructure. And it's an THE ADVENT OF PUBLIC BIKE SHARINGBy Deenanath Harapanahalli, Founder & CEO, CykulFounded in 2015 in Hyderabad, Cykul is India's leading Public Bike Sharing (PBS) company with over 2000 cycles, operational in Hyderabad (Telangana), Gurugram (Haryana/ NCR), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Jaipur (Rajasthan).AIN MY OPINIONNo doubt, Cycle sharing systems in India will create a new group of people who will use cycles for everyday commute from different economic backgrounds and not just poor
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