BY ARSALAN ASHIQ
Nestled in the scenic valley of Kashmir, the city of Srinagar stood as a timeless beauty. With its picturesque lakes, historic gardens, and breathtaking mountains, it has always captivated the hearts of locals and tourists alike. However, beneath its serene exterior, the city faced numerous challenges, from traffic congestion to inefficient public services. The need for progress and sustainable development led Srinagar on an inspiring journey to transform into a smart city. As many developmental works were done under the Srinagar Smart City Project one of the key focus areas was transportation. Srinagar’s narrow streets and heavy traffic were a constant source of frustration for the residents.
To relieve this frustration authorities introduced e-cycles in the city. They said e-cycles will transform urban transportation with their eco-friendly and efficient features. With zero emissions and an electrifying boost, e-cycles are taking the streets by storm.
“It will also be an attraction for the tourists as they can move easily throughout the city. From commuters to enthusiasts, people will embrace the e-cycle revolution, propelling us towards a greener future on two wheels,” officials said.
Sheikh Yameen, the co-founder of Curve Electric, a company working in collaboration with Srinagar Smart City (SSC) to bring e-cycles on city roads said, “With the increase in tourism every year, there was also a rise in pollution and traffic congestion, which was starting to take a toll on the environment and the local way of life.”
Yameen said that he was concerned about the deteriorating environmental conditions around and he along with his group of young and enthusiastic individuals came together with an innovative idea to address these issues – they decided to introduce electric bicycles, or e-cycles, as a sustainable and eco-friendly mode of transportation in Srinagar.
To kickstart their initiative, Yameen and his team has to set up e-cycle rental stations first across the town, strategically located near popular tourist spots, markets, and transportation hubs and this needs to get approved by the Srinagar Smart City.
As the authority was already geared up to change the look of the city and the developmental works were going all around under the smart city project. At that period of time, the group led by Yameen moved to the SSC authorities and informed them about the benefits of e-cycles and the importance of reducing traffic mess and the carbon emissions in the city. They also highlighted how e-cycles could be a perfect fit for Srinagar’s narrow streets and scenic beauty.
This idea of Yameen and his team was more than just a basket full of fruits. SSC authorities approved their idea, allotting them footpaths all around the city on rental basis.
“There is no financial assistance by the government in this. We did this all on our own and we used footpaths of the government for docking stations and we paid rent to the authority. It costs us around 95 lakhs for running 200 e-cycles on 29 docking stations,” he said.
As our idea got approved, they started a test run of these e-cycles from December 2022 on four docking stations and till now 3700 registrations have been done and people travelled around 67,000 km on their e-cycles.
“There are only 4 docking stations that are functional but the reason for that is the developmental work going under the smart city project. As this project gets completed, we will install all the remaining 25 docking stations in the city and 200 e-cycles will be functional in the city,” he said.
Anas Khan, a local of Srinagar said, “When I came to know about this initially, I was skeptical about it. But now I use to ride an e-cycle in a week or two. Riding an e-cycle is a great experience. I enjoy taking rides on it. It seems beautiful when I take a ride near Dal side. It cheers me”.
“The prices are a little bit high as compared to e-rickshaws. Its speed is good, not too high as that can lead to accidents. It also has pedal-assist features, allowing us to choose between manual pedaling or using the electric motor for assistance”.
“It’s good as we are moving towards development day by day like other states of India. If we use these e-cycles in place of our traditional transport we can somehow reduce traffic congestion in the city. We can somehow play a role in reducing pollution and promoting a healthier lifestyle,” he told me.
“But for this, it should be functional throughout the city and there should be a proper workforce on every docking station who makes people aware of how to ride it and how they can be helped if they get into trouble between the rides. If these things happen then we can make a change”.
Anshul, a tourist from Bihar told me that he saw an e-cycle docking station on the Dal Lake side and he was eager to ride as it was a new thing for me. He rented an e-cycle and started traveling from the Dal side.
“The sound of the waves coming to my ears and the breeze coming from the chinars touching my body relaxed me as if it was like travelling in the paradise”.
“These e-cycles are designed to be stylish, lightweight, and equipped with powerful batteries. It is a great experience riding an e-cycle in Srinagar but to facilitate you they are only available at Dal side. It will be good if they will install docking stations in the whole city so we can explore the city on cycle, especially the old city”.
“The prices are reasonable and if they start functioning in the whole city it can attract us (tourists) who like to explore every part of Kashmir. It can also relieve the traffic congestion especially from the Dal side as it takes hours to travel from the Dal side due to heavy traffic and it can also lead to an eco-friendly environment in the city,” he added.
“If people use our e-cycles, we can reduce 750 metric ton of carbon emissions in one year which is equal to planting 330,000 trees,” Yameen added.
Author is a Kashmir based journalist
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.