In the inaugural speech of President William Ruto, one of his agenda is ensuring that Kenya switches to green energy by the year 2030. One of the ways of ensuring that this is attained is by switching to non-motorized forms of transport such as using bicycles.
Although Kenya has a sizeable population of regular cyclists, the manner in which bicycle users are treated is quite discouraging and keeps other potential cyclists from using the mode of transport.
Multiple researches have established that cycling comes with many benefits. To begin with, it is a form of exercise. People who work in offices spend most of their time seated. While a few may afford regular gym sessions, majority of low-income earners do not have the privilege of accessing such services. Sedentary lifestyle is linked to multiple health issues including heart diseases and back problems. Cycling can greatly reverse such situation. Using bicycle just once a week is enough to keep a person fit
Changes in lifestyle has also seen increased cases of obesity in the country. Although being overweight or obese has many contributing factors, exercising is one of the recommended ways of cutting down on body weight. Using bicycle comes in handy again since cycling burns significant calories, enough to make a person lose weight.
Many cities and towns worldwide suffer from traffic jams. An average commuter wastes hundreds of hours a year stuck on road while commuting to or from work. Cycling is one way of reducing the number of motorized vehicles on roads thus saving time and making travelling easier in cites faced with traffic challenges such as Nairobi. The two wheeled vehicles do not emit any pollutant during their use thereby contributing to clean air as opposed to cars and motorbikes that use fossil fuels that release a lot of dangerous gases.
Many people have not embraced the cycling culture in Kenya. The main contributing factor is how we treat cyclists. Majority of people think bike owners are poor people who cannot afford cars. In major roads, motorists harass bike owners and treat them as pedestrians who should not access the highways. To worsen the matter, road designs to not favour them. Many accidents that kill cyclists or leave them with permanent injuries can be attributed to poor road designs lacking cyclist lane and bad driving culture. A number of public and private entities do not accommodate cyclists as well. In many institutions, cyclists are forced to abandon their bikes near entrances where they are exposed to malicious people and weather elements.
To make cycling more appealing, the country needs to entrench the culture that makes cycling more tolerable. To begin with, we must change the notion that cycling is for the poor. In some developed countries such as the Netherlands, it is quite common to see senior government officials cycling to work. Such actions boost the morale of ordinary citizens to love bicycle.
Institutions should be friendly to employees and visitors who enter their premises on bicycles. Instead of forcing cyclists to leave their bicycles near entrances, they should construct special parking that accommodate bicycles and allow the owners to lock them safely without worry of the bikes getting stolen or being affected by sun and rain. Many secondary schools have already established this culture and other organizations can follow suite.
Government should formulate policies to protect cyclists. Roads should have clearly demarcated lanes for cyclists to prevent matatus from harassing the former. There should also be laws to punish rogue drivers that bother riders or knock them. Many cyclists have lost their lives when careless drivers overtake the former and stop the vehicle unexpectedly in front the cyclists.
Finally, the government should introduce cycling allowance. Employees with cars usually get car allowance while their cycling counterparts are grouped with those who do not own any form of vehicle. Maintaining a bicycle needs a fair amount of money to ensure it is road worthy. Countries such as Belgium have already introduced bicycle allowance to workers who commute on bicycle regularly to their workplace. Kenya can equally adopt such policies to favor the cyclists and attract more people to buy and use bicycles
Embracing cycling will contribute towards the elimination of fossil fuels, lead to a healthy nation free of lifestyle diseases, reduce traffic jam in towns, and reduce the cost of money used to treat diseases that can be prevented through regular exercise such as cycling
JUST THINKING OUT LOUD 