Praise Be To The Boy With The Bike!

 I ask this question only somewhat rhetorically:  How often have you been praised for riding your bike?

If you live in the United States, your answer probably is "not often" or "never."  I suspect that is true in other places where cycling is seen as something you do only because, for whatever reasons, you can't drive a car.

But a twelve-year-old boy in Mumbai, India has become something of a Twitter celebrity for traveling with his bicycle on the city's Metro system.  In the photo accompanying the now-viral Tweet, he is seen seated with his bicycle next to him on his way to school.

This young boy is a daily traveler in #MumbaiMetro, goes to attend tuition. It was a pleasant site to witness him parking his bicycle easily. He looked very comfortable with the metro services. All the best to him. ⁦@MMMOCL_Official⁩ ⁦@pedalandtring⁩ ⁦@PMOIndia⁩ pic.twitter.com/SkD7NHDHay

— rarajeev@Mumbai 2.O (@mumbai_2) April 6, 2023

I have never been to Mumbai but, from what I'm reading and hearing, it has a pretty extensive mass transit system.  However, as in most cities public transportation, the longest and most difficult part of a Mumbai commute starts when a passenger disembarks from the train or bus and ends when that passenger arrives at the door of their school, workplace or home.  Such scenarios are a major reason why people in outlying neighborhoods of New York, my hometown, drive.

Certainly, I believe the boy should be commended and other kids should be encouraged to do the same.  But for some, and many adults, there are other obstacles to overcome if people are going to ride bikes to and from the subway or bus. For one, the trains, station and transit personnel have to be more accomodating to bicycles.  For another, there has to be a reasonable assurance that their bikes--whether locked to an outdoor rack or in an indoor facitility--will be there at the end of their day of work, study, shopping or whatever.  And, finally, for many, there need to be facilities where people can change clothes--or, in some situations, dress codes could be relaxed.

I am, ahem, a Midlife Cyclist.  Still, I hope I live long enough that kids like the one in the photo are praised for riding their bikes to school and that getting to the store, office or other workplace by bike is the norm.

20 Million Hacks

Mumbai has two and a half times as many people as my hometown of New York.  Its population is also about half that of Canada, and a third of the UK or France.

It's been said that there are 8 million stories--the same as the number of people--in the Five Boroughs.  Well, one might say that there are 20 million ways of using a bicycle--one for every resident--in the City of Seven Islands.

At least, that was the impression I got from yesterday's post on Hackaday.  In the Gateway to India, it seems that bicycles are used, not only for transporting one's self, but also for moving other people, cargo that seems better suited for ship containers, hay, livestock and even gas cylinders--12 to 16 at a time!-- that weigh 15 kilos empty and 30 when full. 

I don't know which would scare me more:  the potentially-explosive cargo, or that those bikes, with 300-kilo loads, have the same brakes found on typical roadsters.  Come to think of it, I shudder thinking about maneuvering such rigs through winding, narrow, crowded streets that make Broadway in lower Manhattan seem like a Dutch bike lane.