Bicycle Mayors are the face and the voice of cycling in a city. They are responsible for the promotion of cycling by understanding the economic, health, and environmental benefits of cycling. They find solutions to problems related to cycling and encourage people to adopt Eco-friendly lifestyle.
The world’s first Bicycle Mayor was elected in the year 2016 in Amsterdam. Nikita Lalwani is the first bicycle Mayor in India.
Here is a small glimpse of her relationship with cycle and cycling:
Nikita is an instrumentation engineer from Baroda and started cycling because of the car and vehicle traffic. Nikita started cycling when she was young, she has been cycling from the 3rd standard. In fact, she had gone to school on cycle from standard 3rd to 8th.
From school to college to work, she used her bicycle as a mode of transport. During her workdays, she motivated her few employees to start cycling too. The cycling work culture is now slowly emerging in her office.
She has founded ‘CyclingCities’ in 2014 and since then she has inspired many people in the city to start cycling.
For Nikita, a woman on a cycle is a symbol of women empowerment and freedom.
She mostly does commute cycling and a bit of leisure cycling. She has taken part in some triathlons and duathlons.
How did she become a Bicycle Mayor?
Nikita came to know about the program from a Facebook post. She wanted to participate therefore tried to contact them but before she could, she had already received an email from them.
Later, she shared all her work – initiatives taken, a pilot project including “Gift a cycle”, “heritage cycle rides”.
After knowing her work, they made her Bicycle Mayor, India’s first Bicycle Mayor.