New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), as part of the activities being undertaken under "Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav" launched two unique national-level challenges for the first time- “Freedom 2 Walk & Cycle Challenge for City Leaders” & “Inter-City Freedom 2 Walk & Cycle Challenge for Citizens” between 1st to 26th January 2022. In addition to being events that motivate citizens to adopt healthier life choices in a celebratory spirit, the Challenges serve the larger purpose of a long-term behavioral change in citizens towards taking up walking & cycling and to make city leaders as walking and cycling champions in each city.
An online awards event was hosted by MoHUA today to recognize the top-performing cities and city leaders in both the challenges. The event also laid out the goals that cities from India Cycles4Change, Streets4People & Transport4All Challenges will be working towards in 2023. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) is the knowledge partner of Smart Cities Mission for the above-mentioned initiatives.
"I have started cycling more often to work and for recreation over the last couple of years. Not only have I become more physically and mentally fit, but it has also given me a different perspective towards looking at the city and its needs. Cycling is a humble yet very powerful tool that can transform the cities we live in. I urge all city leaders and citizens to experience their cities through walk and cycle and become champions who inspire others," said Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary, Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA.
Impact of the Challenges
The city leaders Challenge saw registration from nearly 130 city leaders from across the country, comprising of Commissioners, Additional/Joint/Deputy Commissioners, Smart City CEOs, and key SPV officials who jointly achieved nearly 47,000 km of cycling, 7000 km of walking and 2500 km of running during the Challenge. The citizens' challenge saw overwhelming participation from nearly 22,000 citizens from the 75 registered cities, who achieved nearly 9,80,000 km of cycling, 1,82,000 km of walking and 9,350 km of running.
"From international leaders being an inspiration for us walking and cycling to work, our leaders are now being an inspiration worldwide! Being part of the coordinating team for the challenges, it was inspiring for us to see the level of participation and excitement that cities and city leaders showed for the two national-level challenges! The impact numbers and experiences shared by city leaders reflect the success of this initiative," said Aswathy Dilip, South Asia Director, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, (ITDP India).
The awards for the city leaders challenge were given in the following categories for performance between 1st to 26th January 2022:
- Cities with maximum kilometers
- City leaders with maximum kilometers
- Women city leaders with maximum kilometers
- City leaders with maximum time spent in activities
- City leaders with a maximum number of activities during challenge
- Awards for Ministers, CEOs & Commissioners with maximum kilometers
- Super Hero Award
The awards for the citizens' challenge were given in the following categories for performance between 1st to 26th January 2022:
- Cities with maximum kilometers
- Cities with maximum registrations
Towards sustaining the momentum beyond the challenge, the participating cities are in the process of signing pledges committing towards institutionalizing activities like Cycle2Work, Open Street Events, Pedestrian Days and physical infrastructure to improve walking and cycling in cities. 18 Cities - Ajmer, Nashik, Rajkot, Lucknow, Kalyan Dombivli, Bhubaneshwar, Jabalpur, Tumakuru, Surat, Valsad, Dahod, Nagpur, Ranchi, Chandigarh, Kakinada, Ujjain, Pimpri Chinchwad, Indore have signed the pledges so far. Aurangabad, Jaipur, Davanagere, Sagar, Pune are in the process.
Goals for 2023
In 2020, the Government of India launched the India Cycles4Change & Streets4People Challenge to inspire over 100 cities to reimagine streets as safe, happy and healthy public spaces and towards creating cycling-friendly cities. This is in line with the vision of the National Urban Transport Policy (2006) that calls for a paradigm shift from car-centric roads to people-centric streets. The Transport4All Challenge was launched in 2021 aiming to bring together cities, citizens, and startups to develop solutions that improve public transport to better serve the needs of all citizens. Through these challenges, cities have adopted a new mantra of engaging with citizens, crowdsourcing ideas and testing innovative, inexpensive, and quick ideas to create walking & cycling-friendly streets.
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