Picture this. A group of children are travelling home after school, with a “driver” in the front. Only, they aren’t in a traditional school bus; there are tens of wheels, many drivers and no passengers. This is a cycle bus, a safe and fun way to travel to and from school.
Save Pune Traffic Movement (SPTM) and Parisar recently conducted a trial run of a cycle bus at BVB Paranjape Vidyamandir in Kothrud. Two volunteers — experienced cyclists — escorted a group of five to six children wearing helmets and with stickers on their bikes back from school in the trial run.
“The idea is to get children to cycle to school. We often hear of lone cyclists being hit by speeding vehicles. Such a collective commute would increase the visibility of cyclists and reduce chances of cyclists facing hostility from other vehicles,” said Tanzeel Allapur, the project associate at Parisar.
Inspired by similar initiatives abroad, SPTM conducted a study in 2022 on the cycling habits of children in Pune.
It collected data from five private schools and two civic schools in Kothrud. Students and parents were asked about the child’s cycling habits, if they normally bicycle to school or if they are dropped off, if the child uses the mode of transport to go to other places, and about the parents’ overall concerns. The survey gathered about 3,000 responses from students between Std V and Std X.
The results showed that students from private schools cycled more often than those from govt institutions. Civic school students above Std VIII often walked to school and didn’t own a bicycle due to financial constraints. Over 85% of parents said their major concern was safety on the road.
“We divided the area around BVB Paranjape Vidyamandir into six parts. Students had to pick the locality number that best indicated their neighbourhood. This gave us a rough count on which roads students mostly used,” said SPTM founder Harshad Abhyankar.
The organisation also sought out volunteers to lead the cycle bus from cyclist groups, citizen forums and social media groups, besides urging parents to help expand the initiative.
The learnings of the pilot would also be implemented in other schools such as Abhinava Vidyalaya English Medium Primary School. There is a need to expand the initiative as there is safety in numbers, Abhyankar said. “We have five to six children for the cycle bus now, and two volunteers are sufficient. If more students participate, then we would need more volunteers. But the larger the group is, the safer the road becomes for the students.”
In 2023, Indian students in the United States were issued a total of 130,839 F-1 student visas, marking a 14% increase from the previous year, according to an Education Times report. This makes it the second consecutive year where Indians received more US student visas than any other country. Additionally, the total number of F-1 student visas issued in the US in 2023 reached approximately 446,000, an 8.5% rise from 2022 and the highest in a single year since 2016.
Students found the trial run a fun way to travel. “The older cyclists at the front and back guide us, making us feel safe. I cycle to school by myself. In the morning, there isn’t much traffic, but I’m usually not confident returning home as many drive on the wrong side of the road and don’t follow traffic signals. When we ride as a group, we feel confident,” said Std VII student Ovi Rajwade.
