Mumbai: Thane’s Bicycle Mayor Chirag Shah was felicitated earlier this week by Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya for receiving an international award for his contribution to promoting cycling as an environmentally sustainable and healthy alternative to motorised transport.
Shah received a Certificate of Excellence from Dr Leszek Sibilski, a Washington, DC-based cycling advocate who founded and leads the global campaign for World Bicycle Day.
Promoting cycling in Thane
Shah, a member of a 500-member cycling community, encourages people to use bicycles for short commutes and practises what he preaches by cycling to his store, located about a kilometre from his home. A member of Wheels and Barrels Cycling, Shah believes Thane still has a long way to go before its roads become truly cycling-friendly.
The city introduced a 900-metre cycling track around 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, two more stretches have been added on a trial basis.
“From zero to this, we have something for cyclists,” Shah said, pointing out that cyclists remain among the most vulnerable road users.
Encouraging children to embrace cycling
As Bicycle Mayor, Shah’s role involves promoting cycling not merely as a hobby but also as a practical commuting option. He also acts as a link between the cycling community and local authorities to raise issues related to cycling infrastructure.
“It may be difficult to convince adults to take up cycling as a mode of commuting, but children are more amenable. We visit safe zones created for cyclists, where children are taught not only traffic rules but also the hand signals cyclists use to negotiate traffic,” Shah said.
Cycling as a commuting alternative
Thane has many cyclists who regularly ride to work. One of them is Aniruddha Lokhande, who works in the finance and accounting sector and cycles from his home in Kharegaon, Kalwa, to his workplace in Kolshet, covering a distance of eight to nine kilometres.
“People whose workplaces are 10 to 15 km from home should consider cycling as a travel option. If more people adopt this mode of transport, it can reduce pollution caused by road traffic while also providing health benefits,” Lokhande said. He added that road conditions for cyclists had improved in recent years, with roads being better maintained.
International recognition for cycling advocacy
Shah said the award recognised decades of cycling, advocacy and community-building, as well as his belief in the potential of bicycles to bring about meaningful change.
Dr Sibilski’s global campaign contributed to the United Nations declaring June 3 as World Bicycle Day in 2018.
A Bicycle Mayor is a volunteer cycling advocate appointed by BYCS, an Amsterdam-based social enterprise, to champion sustainable, healthy and human-centric urban mobility.
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