CYCLING, AN UNTOUCHED SOURCE OF ECONOMY AND HEALTH

 

CYCLING, AN UNTOUCHED SOURCE OF ECONOMY AND HEALTH

 

       “Health is Wealth” is a very famous proverb that intents to specify the importance of health as well as wealth. Although in context to human the whole weight of health responsibility lies in a collaborative effort among individuals and the societies in which they live in, yet over the years the human designed activities have posed serious threats to both their health and wealth. On one hand, these activities have been disrupting the Earth’s atmosphere, depleting the natural resources and resultantly impacting the economic growth while on the other hand they are subjecting humans to an altogether different set of chronic diseases called Lifestyle diseases. These diseases have reached to an epidemic proportion over the last few years and have grown exponentially, contributing presently to almost 71% of deaths globally each year. 

             As majority of these diseases are preventable illnesses, the best prevention management strategy needs to be a collective responsibility of all the stakeholders of healthcare. These include individual (lifestyle management), societal (awareness management), national (health policy decisions) and global (health strategy) elements, with target actions such as multi-sectorial partnership, knowledge and information management and innovation. The most effective preventative strategy is the one that leads to changes in lifestyle with respect to diet, physical activities, cessation of smoking and the control of metabolic disorders.

                                                    Among the physical activities Cycling is an easy, low impact, time efficient, good muscle workout and a fun way to get fit. It also improves the livability of cities, public health, air quality, CO2 balance and provides inherent, incredible and indefinite benefits in the form of zero dependence on energy sources with zero pollution. Apart from improving health and being environment friendly, it also is a perfect tool for transition in the transport sector and creates hard economic values by providing large number of assets and jobs. The benefits of cycling can, thus be demarcated into direct benefits, which accrue to individuals, and indirect benefits, which are realized by society on account of increased cycling and reduced use of motorized transport.

                                        Despite the merits of cycling, the share of bicycle-owning households in rural areas has increased by 3.4% only while the corresponding share in urban areas has actually decreased by 4.1%. In fact, the number of choice users in urban areas has got curtailed markedly due to an increased preference for private motorized transport and absence of adequate safe cycling infrastructure while the number of captive users has remained stagnant in rural areas due to the lack of requisite financing options and high price of bicycles.

                                         India is, thus, witnessing a very slow growth in bicycle ownership and a decline in the use of bicycles despite the health related benefits as recommended by various health authorities in their guidelines. The major reason for this low penetration of cycling in India has been an absence of empirical evidence of economic benefits of cycling in India. Unfortunately, the same is being felt by the various cycling stakeholders at different forums although the fact remains that there is a less systemic application of the techniques for assessing the economic value of cycling benefits than the approaches used for assessing the other costs and benefits of new infrastructure. In one of the recent studies it has been seen that if bicycles were to substitute the two- and four-wheelers used for short-distance trips (less than 8 kms), there will be an annual benefit of INR 1.8 trillion, which is equivalent to 1.6% of India’s annual GDP for 2015–16.

                                 Thus, in order to promote the widespread use of bicycles, a combination of hard and soft measures should be adopted. Hard measures such as the construction of safe cycling infrastructure, easy financing of basic bicycles and support to the Indian bicycle industry for bridging the technological gap for production of premium bicycles can be implemented. In addition, soft measures such as nationwide awareness campaigns to highlight the various benefits of cycling and to change the perception of bicycles as the poor person’s mode of transport can be undertaken.

                                        Since the economic, health, and social benefits of cycling clearly indicate its potential in promoting sustainable mobility, these measures should be implemented to retain the existing share of cyclists and to motivate a shift among those who currently rely on private motor vehicles, even for short distances. It is also recommended that national cycling plans/strategies/laws and separate funds should be created as also a ‘Bicycle Development Council’ for an established growth and development of this sector in India.

 

Dr. Pawan Suri

Director & Chief Cardiologist

email: psuricardio@gmail.com