RTI reply from CRUT
claims 83 per cent fall
in number of users
Bhubaneswar: The much-hyped public cycle sharing scheme, christened ‘Mo Cycle’, seems to be losing its relevance as the state government has failed to turn the city streets cycling-friendly after launching such a system.
In response to an RTI filed by this correspondent, the Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) said that there has been a drastic fall in the overall users of the public cycling system under the ‘Mo Cycle’ scheme.
The data claimed that while the total users stood at 37,008 in December 2018, when the scheme was actually rolled after its inauguration November 26, 2018, the number now plummeted to 6,216, thanks to the shrinking cycling space in the Capital city.
Statistics provided by the CRUT claimed that the popularity of the scheme as well as number of users started falling just a month after the launch itself. There has been a steady decline in the number of users since then.
A comparison of user data in December 2018 and March, 2019 revealed that there has been 83 per cent decline in the number of users.
Regular cyclists claim that the government focused only on inauguration and advertisements, but did nothing to monitor the cycling spaces resulting in the failure of the much-hyped scheme. “Most of the cycling tracks are encroached as the government authorities never bothered on their upkeep. If there is no demarcation, it is natural that motor vehicles too will run on the cycling tracks putting the lives of cyclists in peril,” said Bibhuti Mohapatra, a cyclist from the city.
Another cycling enthusiast, Kapileshwar Rout said, “The government went ahead with bringing a large number of bicycles but did not ensure proper cycling space. As a result the scheme was bound to fail.”