new delhi when daily wager mahendra singh lost his job five months ago he was unsure of how his family of five would survive in delhi his first instinct was to return to his village in uttar pradesh but lack of funds got in the way after months of surviving on government subsidies singh finally found employment as a public toilet cleaner but the 9km distance between home in dakshinpuri and work in khelgaon was a daily hurdlethis daily commute wasnt possible so the only option available to me was to borrow money from relatives to buy a bicycle singh 38 told toi near chirag dilli where he had stopped for a short break on his way hometimes viewmany european cities have embraced cycles a zerocarbon footprint way of commuting but in fumefilled delhi where millions exist at the subsistence level the need to encourage cyclists is even more in these pandemic times when public transport is hugely restricted the cycle is the only available transport for thousands nowadays we must offer them a safe passage to work and back thats the least we can dofor thousands of daily wagers domestic workers gardeners and clerks limited mobility due to restrictions on buses and the nonfunctioning of delhi metro is an everyday challenge so some bought and others rented and borrowed the only means of transport available to them bicycles but though the humble cycle bridged the distance between their homes and workplaces the lack of dedicated cycling lanes has made them vulnerable to accidentsthere is a gap in infrastructure when it comes to planning the city we do not follow a humancentric approach but focus on increasing motorable roads because that counts as development remarked rajendra ravi director of the institute of democracy and sustainability which has been on the forefront demanding separate lanes for livelihood cyclists a city is made of its citizens and the citizens habits depend on the public places india has failed to make its cities livable for the marginalisedalthough the number of cycle users in delhi has not been accurately determined reports suggest 11 lakh people depend on bicycles for their commute the number they say has risen with the covid19 pandemic hitting public transport buses are plying but social distancing rules mean they can only carry a third of passenger capacity forcing many to opt for cyclessree ram is someone who has plumped for a bicycle the 61yearold set to retire soon is a gardener at a government residence waon krishna menon marg and cycles to and from his home in badarpur a 3hour journey of over 40km its not the distance he minds but the speeding vehicles which he feels will knock him down somedayinitially it was easy because there were fewer vehicles on the road ram said but over the last month or so traffic has increased and i constantly fear an accident but the worry is a small price to pay because my job ensures food for the familyaccording to