Bengaluru, Aug 8 (IANS): Karnataka's Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) has invited city cycling enthusiasts to mark the routes where they prefer cycling lanes, considering cycling picking up traction during Coronavirus and also for being a socially distanced personal transport option, an official said on Saturday.

"Bicycling has picked up traction in Bengaluru city during this Covid crisis. As a socially distanced personal transport option, it is by far the best option for distances that cannot be covered by walk," said a DULT official.

Initiating #Mapyourcyclingroute campaign, the department has asked cyclists to mark the routes on the map and DULT will put layers such as ward boundaries, transit stations, parks, lakes and schools.

GPS Visualiser, Mapunity Draw, Google Maps or any tracking tool like Strava, mapmyride can be used for marking the routes.

"We will keep this crowdsourcing effort open till August 14. If your area is not covered in this cycling district it will open up as soon as the plans and budget for the Cycling District 1 is completed and submitted for implementation," he said.

DULT has been at the forefront of mobilizing people to take up cycling as preferred mode of transport for the past six years, including organising an event called CycleDay.

Starting 2020, it has taken up bicycle infrastructure planning as a priority initiative and is committing resources for this purpose.

Teaming up with the city civic body, the department is working to set up 34 km of pop-up bicycle lanes on the outer ring road between Silk Board Junction and Lowry College Junction near K. R. Puram.

"DULT has planned to create cycling districts in phases which will extend to the rest of the city over time. The first cycling district spanning approximately 25 plus wards will complement this Pop-Up Bicycle Lane on outer ring road (ORR) and enhance its effectiveness," said the official.

The Bengaluru Smart City and the civic body will take up these plans for implementation.

Identifying five use cases, the department is considering Purple Line as a cycling route to work, Red Line as school routes, Orange Line as transit routes, Green Line as Rejuvenate Routes and Blue Line as neighbourhood shop routes.

Cyclists can look at the map to see if their area falls in and around the identified cycling district, observe points of interest such as work, school, rejuvenate and last mile for transit, mark them and upload, contributing to the crowdsourcing initiative.

With these initiatives, DULT aims to make the city cycling friendly.

"Looking forward to covering the entire city and making Bengaluru cycling friendly," the official added.