Psychologists are crucial in a team designed to promote behavioural change towards walking and cycling in India. While infrastructure development is vital, it is equally important to motivate people to use it, especially in a context where cycling is often associated with low social status. 

Psychologists bring expertise in identifying and breaking down deep-rooted psychological, social, and cultural barriers that hinder the adoption of active transport. 

Why Psychologists are Needed in India? (source: ITDP India)

• Overcoming Social Stigma: In India, cycling is sometimes viewed as a poor person's mode of transport, and cars are status symbols. Psychologists help change this perception to promote cycling as a modern, healthy, and responsible choice.

• Addressing Safety Perceptions: Fear is a major emotional barrier to cycling in Indian cities due to chaotic traffic, lack of infrastructure, and air pollution. Psychologists can help design interventions that reduce anxiety and build confidence among potential cyclists.

• Targeting Specific Demographics: Studies show a persistent gender gap in cycling, with women facing greater perceived safety risks. Psychologists can help design tailored programs (e.g., women-only bike initiatives) to encourage participation.

• Habit Formation: Moving from private vehicles to walking/cycling requires changing ingrained daily habits. Psychological techniques like setting small goals (e.g., pledging to cycle for short trips) are effective in changing behavior.

• Using Social Norms: Indian cities are transitioning from walking to driving. Psychologists can leverage social modeling and promote a supportive "community" culture to make walking and cycling the new, popular norm. 

Roles within a Team (source: ITDP India) : 

Psychologists can analyze the social, cultural, and behavioral traits affecting transport mode choice and create targeted campaigns for various population groups. They are crucial in designing initiatives like Open Streets, Safe Routes to School, and Cycle-to-Work campaigns by focusing on the "soft" components—encouragement, education, and motivation. 

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy +2

Excerpts from Michael Thomas's Article in Distilled (see [3])

1980's: The Dutch government went on a bike lane building spree. Over the course of 10 years, the government built about 7,000 kilometers of bike lanes, growing the total number of bike lanes in the country by about 70%.

But despite the growth of this network, people weren’t biking that much more. In 1990 Dutch people biked 12.8 billion kilometers. 4 years later in 1994, they biked 12.9 billion kilometers, a difference of about 100,000 kilometers.

As Ton Welleman wrote in what’s now a famous study for the Dutch Ministry of Transport:

“The construction of a network of bicycle routes is insufficient in itself for bringing about a sustainable increase in bicycle use. The simultaneous execution of a policy discouraging car use is deemed necessary.”

In other words, if you want people to bike you can’t just make it pleasant to bike. You have to make it a pain to drive.

2000 onwards: 

Over the last 20 years, Dutch cities like Amsterdam and The Hague have done just that. One way they’ve discouraged car use is by making parking expensive.

“In the city centre, you pay seven euros per hour [to park],” de Lange said. “If it's expensive, people will think about going by car twice.”

But policies like this don’t just discourage people from driving. They also provide income for the government. And most Dutch cities use that income to fund bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

In addition to making parking expensive, Dutch cities also use a city planning strategy called “traffic calming” to slow down cars. The basic idea of this is to make roads more narrow, reduce speed limits, add bumps, and make it difficult to drive fast.

This makes driving less desirable. But it also makes it safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The result is less driving and more biking and walking.

Many cities have also begun converting roads into car-free zones. As the name implies, these are areas of the city where cars can’t travel with the exception of delivery trucks and emergency vehicles.

2010: All of these policies are working

All of these changes have had an incredible impact on The Netherlands. In the 1970s about 500 children were dying from car fatalities per year. Four decades later in 2010, 14 children died, a decrease of about 97%.

2020: Compared to the United States, the Netherlands has 3 times less car fatalities per capita. If the US could replicate this, we’d save 20,000 lives per year.

All of this biking is also improving people’s health. Everywhere in Europe, obesity rates are growing with one exception: The Netherlands. As Melissa and Chris Bruntlett point out in their book, Curbing Traffic: “Similar bicycling rates in the United States would save a staggering 125,000 lives each year.”

These policies have also cut the Netherlands carbon emissions. In the United States the average person emits about 5.4 tons of CO2 per year from driving. Dutch people, on the other hand, drive much less and as a result their cars emit 3 times less CO2 per capita.

Change doesn’t happen on its own

We often look at our societies as fixed and stuck in their ways. We think “The United States will always be a land of strip malls and highways.” Or we think the world will always run on fossil fuels.

The reality is that none of these things have to be true.

The Netherlands is proof that societies can and do change - and sometimes they can do it quickly. But as we saw, these transformations don’t happen on their own.

They happen because people like the activists that started the Stop de Kindermord movement. They happen because of smart decisions by government employees that rarely get the credit that they deserve. They happen because of people who show up to their local town meetings.

But the first step in making these changes and building better cities is believing we can do it in the first place!