BENGALURU: The ‘Cycle to Work’ challenge started by Bicycle Mayor Sathya Sankaran, has 69 companies in Bengaluru on board. Launched on September 22, the ‘leaderboard’ section of the Cycle to Work website, tracks the numbers of riders taking cycles to their workplace and the number of rides.
“The leaderboard is a kind of score board that gamifies the whole process. This attracts white collar employees to cycle to work. The number of kilometres do not matter — we track the number of riders and their rides to and fro work only,” said Sathya.
For example, Cisco Systems India — Cessna Business Park ranks number one among 69 companies. This rank is based on the number of riders and number of rides. The number of riders stands at 60 with 139 rides. “We have been tracking and extracting data using an application called Strava since October 1. Cycle rides for grocery shopping or leisure are not being counted as of now.
When individuals sign up, they also have an option to apply for the role of a bicycle ambassador,” said Sathya, adding, “We will nominate one person to be a bicycle ambassador within each company. They will look at how to increase the number of cyclists, run campaigns for non-cyclists and educate them to not harass cyclists on roads, etc.”
How this works is that the individual turns on the Strava app when starting their ride, and switches it off once they reach their destination. The same process repeats when the employee is headed home.
Mexico City, B’luru to collaborate Areli Carreon, the Bicycle Mayor of Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, signed an MoU with Bengaluru’s Bicycle Mayor on October 13.
“The memorandum enables us to share best practices, technologies, programmes, seminars, and more primarily, in the area of cycling. We will also collaborate on subjects of mobility, environment, health, education and road safety,” Sathya said. One of the initiatives they have adopted is Bengaluru’s Cycle to Work challenge.
Companies in Mexico City will soon be part of the leaderboard. The mayors are currently working on developing a version of the same platform by the end of this month in Spanish. The Netherlands may also be part of the MoU.