Cycling to be back on track in Bhubaneswar after 2 months

BHUBANESWAR: Here is good news for cycle enthusiasts and fitness freaks of the city. The Mo Cycle run by Capital Region Urban Transport (Crut) has decided to resume its operation next week after a gap of nearly two months since nationwide lockdown was imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Crut officials said they had sought permission from the government, which has approved resumption of Mo Cycle.Although the capital city is still a red zone with three corona active cases, Mo Cycle has been allowed to operate to facilitate people to stay fit as they have to stay indoors most of the time due to lockdown. The riders can hire the cycle within the permissible time, which is between 7am and 6.30pm.
“Mo Cycle docks are intact and the cycles are in good condition. There was no need to remove the cycles from the docks. We think, people will show even greater enthusiasm to ride bicycles. Now, we have 2,000 bicycles in 350 stations,” said a Crut officer.
Prior to the lockdown, the city had been recording 30,000 monthly ridership of Mo Cycle. “Now, it may take some months to restore the ridership,” the officer added.
The Crut hasn’t report loss of cycle dock or bicycles during the last two months although a month before lockdown, it had decided to install web cameras at cycle docks to check vandalism. There were reports of miscreants breaking automatic locks of the bicycles and taking them for ride from the docks. Many cycles had been damaged.
Piyush Rout, an urban planner and a cycle enthusiast said the Crut authorities should promote the bicycle ride now by offering discounts on ride. “Cycling since two years has been part of city life. It was off road for two months but once re-introduced, people will rush out of the homes to hire one and hit the streets,” he said.
In another development, the Crut has decided to facilitate the commuting of people landing in the city from different states in Mo Bus. The special service will start from Thursday to ferry passengers arriving at railway stations, airport and bus stands, according to the guideline of the government.
The Crut will deploy five buses for the purpose to shuttle between Bhubaneswar-Cuttack,Bhubaneswar-Khurda. “We will operate special MoBus service within Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Khurda,” said Crut general manager Dipti Mahapatra.