With safe commute becoming an issue of prime importance during the pandemic, and more and more people out on the road choosing solo modes of travel, the New Town authorities are promoting cycles for mass use.

“We already have 11km of dedicated cycle track. We intend to add another 40km. Cycles will not be allowed on the Major Arterial Road (MAR) and the bridge. Other than that, it will be allowed everywhere,” said Hidco chairman Debashis Sen.

There will be two kinds of tracks. Half of the new tracks would be grade separated, which means at a different level from the carriageway, like a pavement is. The other half will be at grade, which will be at the same level as the carriageway but will have markings on the black top and will be separated from vehicular traffic by placement of divider cones.

An upcoming track in CC Block Sudeshna Banerjee and Brinda Sarkar

Currently one can cycle from Action Area 1 along the bicycle tracks on the side streets of both sides of MAR all the way to the Biswa Bangla Gate.

The tender process for a cycle rental service is under way. “We plan to revive app-based cycle share service. E-cycles with battery-run assisted peddling will also be part of the fleet,” said Sen.

Zoomcar had tied up with the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) in December 2017 and launched the app-based cycle share service PEDL with 100 cycles and 30 pick-up points.

But they folded up after reportedly running into financial trouble. “It was quite popular but it was not viable. They could not cover their operating cost at a rental of Rs 3 per half hour. We have done a survey. People are not prepared to pay a huge amount for hiring a service. So this time we have offered viability gap funding. Those participating in the tender process have been asked to quote a price they expect us to fork out to run the service,” Sen said.

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