A government official riding a bicycle in the 1960s. (Photo: University of Hawaii, Manoa)

The rise and fall of the Kathmandu Valley’s cycling culture- Prashanta Khanal

Sourced from: The Record Nepal

In the last century, cycles have gone from a symbol of wealth and power to one of poverty, but that is slowly changing.


In the early decades of the 20th century, bicycles were out of reach for most commoners. Bicycles then symbolized wealth and prestige, and only the Ranas could afford them in Nepal. 

Tirtha Narayan Manandhar, in his book Kathmandu: Then and Now, recounts how the first bicycles were imported to Kathmandu from Britain via India: “When my father was young, around the year 1903, some Ranas and certain dignitaries imported a few bicycles from India and they rode them for leisure. General Soor Samsher was one among them.”

Almost around the same time, cars too arrived in Kathmandu. Until 1953, as no motorable road connected the Tarai to the Kathmandu Valley, cars had to be carried on the backs of men from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu crossing the Chandragiri hills. 

“In those days, my father and his generation used to call them sala-mwaa baggi [a buggy that doesn’t need horses to draw or pull],” writes Manandhar in his book. 

Cars too were reserved for a few super-elites: the royals and the Rana rulers. The bicycles then were for rich elites.

Before 1953, as there was no road connecting Kathmandu, motor vehicles had to be carried in by porters to Kathmandu. (Photo: Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya Collection, date unknown)

In 1925, Manandhar’s father, Asta Narayan Manandhar, opened Kathmandu’s first bicycle store, named Pancha Narayan Asta Narayan in Kamalacchi, importing six British-made Hercules bicycles from Calcutta. Each bicycle cost around Rs 100 then, more than the annual salary of an ordinary government official. Later around 1934, the shop started importing Raleigh bicycles. And because they were able to reduce the transportation cost by packing as many as 25 disassembled bicycles in two large boxes, the Raleigh bicycle cost Rs 90. 

The bicycles were transported by train from Calcutta to Amlekhjgunj via Raxaul, by lorry to Bhimphedi, and then by ropeway to Kathmandu. Before the construction of the ropeway in 1922, porters carried the bicycles from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu. 

Bicycles in the 60s: from an elite toy to a commoner’s means of transport

After joining a government office in 1962, engineer Bharat Sharma bought his first bicycle, a Hercules, for Rs 1,000, which was equivalent to three months of his salary. He commuted daily on his bicycle to his office and cycled religiously until the 2000s when he had to give it up because of his health. 

Like Sharma, Padam Bahadur Shrestha, who worked as a musician with Radio Nepal in the 1950s, used to cycle to work every day — fifteen kilometers one way from Bhaktapur to Singhadurbar. In the 1970s, Radhakrishna Joshi, who taught at Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur too used a bicycle to commute to work from Dillibazar. 

In the span of a few decades, bicycles had become the common man’s ride and a big part of Kathmandu’s streets. This was possible because, in the 1950s, factories started mass producing bicycles across India. Mass production meant prices came down and more people could afford them. By the 1960s, Indian bicycles adorned many homes of Kathmandu’s middle and lower-middle class. 

“In the 1980s, our shop alone used to order 250 to 300 India’s Hero bicycles a month,” said Prachanda Manandhar, who used to run the Pancha Narayan Asta Narayan shop, established by his grandfather. 

Besides several privately owned cycle shops in Kathmandu, the government-owned company Nepal Trading Limited too used to sell China-made bicycles. Several cycle rental shops and repair centers catered to the cycling demand. In the 1960s, cycle races were also organized in Tundikhel during the Ghodejatra (Pachahare) festival, along with horse races, which added to the bicycle’s popularity.

Date: 1969 Location: Kathmandu, Kathmandu Description: View up New Road from top of the entry archway.
A cycle race organized during Ghodejatra/Pachahare in Tundikhel/Tinikhya, circa 1960s. (Photo:Shreedhar Lal Manandhar Collection/Nepal Picture Library)

Campuses and government offices even built dedicated parking spaces for bicycles. In 1965, Gorkhapatra published a tender call from the government to build parking spaces for 400 bicycles and 100 to 120 motorcycles in Singhadurbar. In the mid-1970s, the Institute of Engineering too added a dedicated parking space for bicycles, which reflects the burgeoning cycling culture of the time. Unfortunately, that space has now been turned into parking for motorbikes.

This picture, published in Gorkhapatra on June 8, 1984, shows a large number of bicycles parked at the flooded premises of Nepal Bank Ltd (Photo: Gorkhapatra/National Archive, 1984)

For middle-class and working males, the bicycle soon became their symbol of pride. They would often take portrait photographs with their new bicycles.

Cousins Prachanda, Prakash, and Pradip Manandhar (from left to right) ride their bicycles to the outskirts of the city. The Manandhar family’s bicycle shop is Kathmandu’s first. (Photo: Sumitra Manandhar Gurung Collection/Nepal Picture Library, circa mid-70s)

Bicycles were still a luxury not everyone could afford in the mid-1970s. But Sumitra Manandhar Gurung and her siblings and cousins had grown up around them. Her family owned a bicycle store in Ason, Kathmandu. Here, her brothers and a cousin are out on a ride to Chobar.

Soon, the bicycle became a tool to resist political oppression. In 1975, Shree Krishna Nakarmi, a theatre artist and school principal, and his friend organized a cycle rally on Nhu Daya (the Newa New Year) with slogans written in Nepal Bhasa. They strategically planned the cycle rally to protest the suppression of their language and culture by the Panchayat regime, which had forced an “ek bhasha, ek bhesh, ek dharma, ek desh” (one language, one way of dress, one religion, one nation) nationalism onto all Nepalis. 

“Each tol felicitated the rally participants and put tikas on them, which later turned into an annual practice of celebrating Nhu Daya,” recalled Prachanda Manandhar, who supported the rally by lending bicycles to participants from his shop. “The annual Nhu Daya cycle rally continued for a few more years and was later replaced by a motorbike rally.” 

1975’s first Nhu Daya Bhintuna cycle rally organized against the suppression of Nepal Bhasa by the Panchayat regime. (1975) 

By the time Kathmandu stepped into the mid-70s, farmers from the city’s outskirts too started adopting bicycles to transport vegetables to the city’s markets. Earlier, Bhaktapur and Thimi farmers would walk all the way to Asan or Kalimati, carrying their produce in a kharpan (a carrying pole made out of bamboo). Bicycles eased their travel and saved time. Small vegetable retailers in the city too used bicycles to fetch vegetables from the wholesale Kalimati vegetable market.

However, the ratio of cycle users to the population was relatively low, compared to European cities with strong cycling cultures. Until the 1980s, the Valley’s settlements were densely confined within the historical urban areas of the three primary cities: Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur. People could easily walk from one end of the city to another. Social and marital relationships between the three cities were rare. This confined spatial and social environment limited the need for longer trips between the cities and thus the necessity of a bicycle. Also, because many people didn’t have office jobs, they neither required bicycles nor could they afford them.

The decline of cycling culture: From common transport to a poor man’s vehicle

Until the 1990s, the cycle was still the common man’s preferred mode of transport in the Valley. But after the 1990s that changed. And today, cycling culture has declined significantly. Once associated with social status, cycling has now been reduced to a vehicle for a poor person’s mobility. How did this shift happen? What were the turning points? What were social, economic, and political factors for the decline in cycling culture?

The easy answer to these questions is that cycling culture declined with the rise of motorbikes and cars. 

The middle-class’s attraction towards cars and motorbikes started as early as the 1970s. In fact, even by the mid-60s, pictorial advertisements for cars and motorbikes had already started appearing in newspapers. And they continue to this day. A 1969 full-page car advert published in The Rising Nepal promoted a car as “a sense of style and prestige.”

A motorbike advert (left) published in Gorkhapatra in 1965 (Gorkhapatra/The National Archives) and a full-page car advert published in The Rising Nepal in 1969. (The Rising Nepal/The National Archives)

Various foreign development projects in the country planted dreams of owning a car and motorbike among middle-class Nepalis, which earlier existed only among the elites, high-level government officials, and rich businessmen. It was around this time, in the 1960s, that many foreign investments and development assistance projects entered Nepal. These projects, especially hydropower projects, started providing their staff, both foreign and local, with cars and motorbikes for their daily commutes and field visits. Oftentimes, ministers and politicians misused the cars funded by the project for their own personal commute, which was infamously called ‘Pajero culture’. Gradually, the government too adopted the practice of giving a car or a motorbike to its employees. 

“USAID insisted that its government advisors ride in jeeps driven by Nepali USAID employees,” said Doug Hall, who joined a USAID project in 1971 as a science advisor to the Ministry of Education. In 1968-69, Hall used to cycle daily from Handigaon, and later from Patan, to Durbar High School in Jamal, where he taught as a Peace Corps volunteer. 

“After joining the project, I bought a motorbike for work and only occasionally rode my bicycle for a short trip to the bazaar,” he recalled.

After the mid-70s and 80s, many rich and upper-middle-class Nepalis purchased private vehicles, largely motorbikes, as they were far cheaper than cars. Motorbikes became a trend. 

“When I joined campus in the late 1970s, students had already started romanticizing motorbikes,” said journalist and editor Kanak Mani Dixit.

Slowly after the 80s, cars and motorbikes, not bicycles, began to symbolize social prestige. People started to see bicycles as playthings for children. Among teenagers, new Chinese bicycles with straight handlebars were trendy and the Indian design, with a curved handlebar colloquially referred to as ‘budo cycle’, was considered unfashionable. The charm of a bicycle among adults gradually faded. Mass media too portrayed riding a car or a motorbike as something desirable for anyone seeking higher social status. Society began to view a bicycle as a poor man’s vehicle. 

Bharat Sharma, the engineer, shares an incident he experienced in the 1990s: 

“One day while cycling, a man from my neighborhood stopped me and asked me if I was an overseer. Immediately after a breath, he asked if I was an engineer. When I told him that I was an engineer, he brooded for a while and apologetically said that he could not imagine an engineer riding a bicycle.” 

In a society where owning cars or motorbikes prevailed as part of social prestige, an engineer cycling, instead of driving a car or motorbike, appeared out of the ordinary.

Sharma was an exception, as most who could afford it shifted to private motor vehicles. As bicycles were associated with postmen, peons, and security guards, the rich and middle-class gave up cycling to maintain their social distance from the working class. 

Rapid motorization after 1990: Beyond personal preference

After 1990, with the re-establishment of democracy, motorization in the country grew rapidly. Consequently, cycling culture and its status too declined. 

In 1990, only 28,462 private motor vehicles (cars and motorbikes) were registered in the Kathmandu Valley, which is about 50 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants (assuming private vehicles registered in Bagmati zone mostly ran in the Kathmandu Valley). But in 2011, this number had reached about 350 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

While the Valley’s population grew at the rate of about 4.3 percent, motor vehicles grew at the rate of 12-13 percent annually. The share of private vehicles increased significantly from 13.1 percent in 1991 to 30.2 percent in 2011, whereas cycling declined from 6.6 percent to 1.5 percent.

As a result, roads and streets started to clog with traffic. The city’s roads turned unsafe, especially for walking and cycling, becoming more and more perilous every year. 

“The city’s narrow streets that once were not only for people to walk and cycle but also for the gods to go around in a chariot were gradually overtaken by motor vehicles,” said Sharma. 

After 1990, the democratic governments wholeheartedly embraced modernist development agendas. Big infrastructure and ‘chillo sadak, chillo gadi’ (smooth roads, smooth cars) symbolized modernity, prosperity, and development. Wide roads and motor vehicles that people were deprived of during the Rana and Panchayat regimes became symbols of progress for the masses. For politicians and planners, cycling meant regression. For corrupt politicians and planners, large road infrastructure projects also meant opportunities for commission. Low-cost incremental changes such as walking and cycling carried no clout.

“As economic and political elites couldn’t understand the benefits of cycling, bicycles became passe,” said Dixit. 

After the end of the Maoist conflict in 2006 and the end of the monarchy, the political rhetoric of ‘sambriddhi ra bikas’ (prosperity and progress) dominated the national discourse, which only exacerbated the same modernist development visions of megacities, wide roads, flyovers, cars, and metros.

Cycling had failed to enter the realm of political ambition. 

Then, in 2011, then prime minister Baburam Bhattarai started a road widening campaign to woo Kathmandu’s rich, bourgeois class — the ones who were stuck in traffic jams. Road expansion further fueled the growth of private vehicles, specifically cars. 

“The main reasons for the continuous rise in registration of new vehicles are road expansion, population growth, and the increasing purchasing capacity of Nepalis,” Devi Ram Bhandari, then director of the Department of Transport Management, told Republica in 2013. 

Annual car registrations increased from 7-8 percent before the road expansion to 12-14 percent. Because of the increase in motor vehicles and their speed on newly paved roads, the streets only became more unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists. 

For decades, Nepal’s transportation policies have centered around building roads and highways. And always, civil engineers and regional planners who do not appear to understand urban transport have led transport plans. 

In between the 1960s and 1980s, many Nepali engineers and planners studied in India, Russia, Thailand, and the US, where they picked up modernist development approaches. India, too, post-independence, adopted large-scale infrastructure and roads as the model for “national development”, which eventually trickled into the psyche of Nepali politicians, engineers, and planners. 

In 1960, when then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru used the phrase ‘cycle age’, adding that bicycles had “invaded the villages” and become “a very popular means of transport all over India,” he did so with evident regret that India was still a long way from joining advanced industrial nations in the age of electronics, jet travel, and atomic energy.

“One doesn’t have to travel to the 1960s or 70s to understand how engineering students were schooled,” said urban planner Padma Sundar Joshi, who teaches at the Institute of Engineering. “In 2010, a civil engineering student came to me for a suggestion for his school project. I advised him to do a project on cycle lanes in the Kathmandu Valley. But his fellow teachers discouraged him saying that engineers should focus on flyovers and big infrastructures, not a petty cycle lane.” 

The Department of Roads, which was dominated by civil engineers and contract managers with no expertise in transport planning, was entirely focused on building motorable roads and highways. To this day, in its 70-year history, the department has not only failed to consider cycling in its plans but has proactively opposed cycle lanes proposed by other government agencies and by civil society.

In cycle-friendly cities around the world, it isn’t the central governments but the city governments that plan, fund, and build cycling infrastructures. But Nepal’s transport planning approach to this day is top-down. The federal government continues to force its development agenda on local units, often without the people’s participation. Despite federalism, city governments don’t have jurisdiction over roads or transport. The bureaucratic chief of the Department of Roads or the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority decides how the city’s roads and transport should be, not the elected mayor.

Decades of political instability have swayed the focus from the people’s everyday issues and weakened local agendas, such as cycling. 

“While public discourse was diverted to managing political instability, the Kathmandu Valley destroyed itself through haphazard urbanization and motorization,” said Dixit. 

Besides the top-down car-centric planning, another reason that caused rapid motorization after 1990 was because of economic liberalization and privatization policies that Nepal embraced, which was seeded in the mid-1980s with the Structural Adjustments Program. Vehicle imports were eased and dealerships were set up. Private commercial banks and financial institutions, including foreign ventures, grew more rapidly after the decade-long armed conflict. The government in turn abandoned public transport entirely to the market.

Before 1990, there were only five banks, but by 2010, there were over 308 banks and financial institutions in Nepal. All of them competed to provide easy financing schemes for private vehicles with low-interest rate loans, longer payback times, and little down payment. Many vehicle dealers also own or have equity in private banks, creating a nexus for easy financing. 

As individual incomes, foreign remittance, and land value increased — hyped by the nexus between banks and the unregulated real estate market — many Nepalis could now easily afford private vehicles. 

“Before 2000, it was unthinkable for a middle-class family to take a loan or sell their land to purchase a car or motorbike,” said Joshi, the urban planner. “But after 2000, as society gradually became more materialistic, taking out a loan to purchase a private vehicle became the norm among the middle class.” 

The expansion of the city, which began with the construction of the Ring Road in the mid-70s and accelerated after the 90s, too encouraged private vehicle usage. Before the Ring Road, settlements were largely confined to the historic old core. As the city expanded rapidly, so did motorization.

Hope for a cycling renaissance: Reclaiming the dignity of cycling

Since the last decade, with growing environmental awareness and health concerns, more and more people have adopted cycling, at least in the Valley. This interest in cycling mainly took off after the mid-2000s, as environmental concerns began to grow and organizations and activists started organizing cycle rallies. 

“The decade I took over the shop saw historically low bicycle sales,” said Tirek Manandhar, who took charge of his great grandfather’s business — Pancha Narayan Asta Narayan, now called PANC Bikes — in 2000 after graduating as a mechanical engineer. “But the cycling campaigns began to attract people towards bicycles.” 

But it was only after 2009, when a group of youths started the ‘Kathmandu Cycle City 2020’ campaign, that cycling started to be seen as more than just about the environment. Environmental campaigns and cycle rallies before 2009 had not called for safer cycling infrastructures and rights to the streets. In the following years, cycling campaigns began to intensify, pushing policymakers and planners for cycle-inclusive transport plans.

The death of renowned conservationist Prahlad Yonzon in October 2011 in a road accident while cycling home from his office garnered much media attention and stirred discourse about the city’s precarious cycling environment. 

In April 2012, around 400 cyclists conducted a cycle rally and submitted a petition to government agencies, demanding safer cycling infrastructure. Cycle activists even gifted then prime minister Baburam Bhattarai and architect of the road expansion with a bicycle.

In 2012, 400 cyclists rallied for safer cycling infrastructures (Republica, 2013)

Responding to relentless pressure from the cycling community, in 2014, the government built a nearly three-kilometer cycle lane along the Tinkune-Maitighar road. However, the lane is not cyclable because of its faulty design. 

In the last couple of years, the mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City has spearheaded a marked cycle lane in the city despite the opposition from the Department of Roads, which had previously blocked plans to build the Tinkune-Maitighar lane in 2000. This success owes itself to the work of a cycling advocacy organization called Nepal Cycle Society, and to all cycling activists.

Crises too have, surprisingly, encouraged the use of cycles in Nepal. Last year, with the world at standstill because of the Covid crisis, cities around the world, including Kathmandu, saw an increase in cycling. Bicycle sales skyrocketed. 

“In the 11 years that I have been in this business, I have never seen such demand for bikes,” Santosh Rai, managing director of the Himalayan Single Track cycling tour company, told The Kathmandu Post.

Similarly, during the 2015 Indian blockade, many people had opted to cycle because of petroleum shortages. 

“Bicycle shops were out of stock,” said Manandhar of PANC Bikes. But as the blockade ended and petroleum imports resumed, nationalist sentiments faded, and most returned to the comfort of their private vehicles. 

And while there are positive signs for Kathmandu’s cycling culture, the road to achieving cycling dignity in Kathmandu remains long and hard. 

“People have finally started to understand the benefits of cycling,” said Dixit, the journalist and editor. “The goal now is to convert this into a viable political agenda.” 

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[Image: A government official riding a bicycle in the 1960s. (Photo: University of Hawaii, Manoa)]

This article is Part 1 of a series on cycling in Nepal. The next part will focus on women and cycling history. 

This series was produced under the Nepal Picture Library’s Kathmandu Valley Urban History Project Research Fellowship.


author bio photo

Prashanta Khanal  Prashanta Khanal works in urban transport, air quality management, climate change, and sustainable cities.

@theprashanta

NCELL UNDP

UNDP and Ncell partner for Cycling Promotion under Sustainable Development in Nepal

4 June 2021, Kathmandu

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ncell Axiata Limited entered into a partnership to promote sustainable development solutions, including through promotion of cycling for healthy lives and cities in Nepal. UNDP Resident Representative Ayshanie Medagangoda Labe and Ncell CEO Andy Chong signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) virtually to this effect on June 4. 

The cycle campaign, dubbed ‘Greenway’, was originally launched in January 2021 with the objective of promoting sustainable urban transportation and environment-friendly lifestyle choices for urban dwellers. The aim is to demonstrate how cycling is an alternative mode of transport that is clean, healthy, and affordable for commuters in cities.

Under this MoU signed on the eve of the World Environment Day 2021, UNDP and Ncell, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR), will collaborate to further expand the coverage of the cycle campaign to other aspiring cities outside the Kathmandu Valley. The campaign will make use of existing technology to track, map, credit and reward cycling for healthy cities.

People will be motivated to use bicycles or switch to cycling through a game that incentivises cyclists with rewards, and also favours clean businesses that sponsor and take part in the game. The campaign advocates for increased investment on cycle-friendly, safe infrastructure and aims to introduce incentives to motivate people to switch to or continue commuting on bicycles for multiple reasons, including, economic, health, environmental as well as COVID related safety reasons. 

“Through this MoU, UNDP and Ncell set our shoulders to the wheels and set them in motion. Simply put, to keep fit, to save lives and protect the planet,” said UNDP Resident Representative in Nepal Ayshanie Medagangoda Labe. “UNDP believes in the effectiveness of public private partnerships to achieve urban sustainability outcomes, and to alleviate issues such as air pollution, traffic congestion, and road safety that impact the quality of life of millions of city dwellers in Nepal.”

“Ncell is pleased to join hands with the United Nations for this green cause to promote cycling as a sustainable means of urban travel, practical for short- and medium commuting. Given the numerous benefits of cycling, we are hopeful this campaign has the potential to transform the way we travel in cities. This is aligned with Ncell’s commitment towards sustainable society as well as our parent company Axiata’s journey to becoming a net-zero carbon company,” said Ncell CEO Andy Chong.

The MoU signed between UNDP and Ncell expresses commitment to explore and undertake joint initiatives for the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nepal.

The Government of Nepal’s National Plan for Electric Mobility (NPEM) envisions improving air quality, among several other means, through 50% cut in the use of fossil fuels in the transport sector by 2050 and to decrease the rate of air pollution through proper monitoring of sources of pollutants across waste, old and unmaintained vehicles and industries. Promoting cycling in cities, is expected to be one of the immediate and low-cost sustainable ways of reaching that target. 

“It’s a win-win game accessible for everybody. Anyone with or without a smartphone can participate and enjoy the perks, while also keeping up the wellbeing of themselves and their cities,” said Cycle City Network Nepal (CCNN) President Sailendra Dongol. “After countless trials and tests, we have finally managed to launch a fully functioning cycle game app, Greenway. I call on everyone to join and take benefit from the campaign.”

दिगो विकासका लागि नेपालमा यूएनडीपी र एनसेलको साझेदारी

नेपालमा दिगो विकास तथा स्वस्थ जीवन र स्वच्छ शहरका लागि साइकल यात्रा अभियानको प्रवद्र्धन गर्न संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ विकास कार्यक्रम (यूएनडीपी) र एनसेल आजियाटा लिमिटेडले साझेदारी गरेका छन् । यसका लागि यूएनडीपीकी आवासीय प्रतिनिधि ऐशानी मेडागाङ्गोडा लाबे र एनसेलका प्रमुख कार्यकाकारी अधिकृत एन्डी चोङ्ले जेठ २१ गते समझदारी पत्रमा (भर्चुअल रूपमा) हस्ताक्षर गरेका छन् ।

साइकल अभियानलाई ‘ग्रिनवे’ अर्थात् ‘हरितमार्ग’ एपको माध्यमलगायतबाट प्रवद्र्धन गरिनेछ । शहरी बासिन्दाका लागि दिगो शहरी यातायात र वातावरण–मैत्री जीवनपद्धतिको छनोट प्रवद्र्धन गर्ने उद्देश्यले यो अभियानको शुभारम्भ गत पुस २०७७ बाटै भएको थियो । शहरबासीका लागि स्वच्छ, स्वस्थ र सुपथ रहेको साइकल यात्रा कसरी वैकल्पिक माध्यम हुन सक्छ भन्ने कुराको पुष्टि गर्नु अभियानको ध्येय हो ।

‘विश्व वातावरण दिवस २०२१’को पूर्वसन्ध्यामा हस्ताक्षरित यस समझदारी पत्रअन्तर्गत यूएनडीपी र एनसेलले आफ्नो व्यावसायिक—सामाजिक जिम्मेवारी (सीएसआर)को हिस्साका रूपमा काठमाडौं उपत्यकाबाहिरका अन्य इच्छुक शहरहरूमा समेत साइकल अभियान विस्तार गर्न सहकार्य गर्नेछन् । अभियानले स्वस्थ शहरका लागि साइकल यात्राको नियमन, नक्सांकन, विश्वास तथा प्रोत्साहनका लागि विद्यमान प्रविधि प्रयोग गर्नेछ ।

मानिसहरूलाई प्रतिस्पर्धात्मक खेलमार्फत बढीभन्दा बढी साइकल प्रयोग गर्न उत्साहित गरिनेछ, जसले साइकलयात्रीलाई पुरस्कारसँगै प्रोत्साहित गर्ने र खेलमा सहभागी हुने तथा प्रायोजन गर्ने जस्ता वातावरणमैत्री व्यवसायलाई समेत पक्षपोषण गर्दछ । यस अभियानले साइकलमैत्री, सुरक्षित पूर्वाधारको बढ्दो लगानीका लागि वकालत गर्दछ । यससँगै आर्थिक, स्वास्थ्यलगायत वातावरणीय तथा कोभिड–सम्बद्ध सुरक्षाका लागि समेत मानिसहरूलाई साइकल जीवनशैली सुरु गर्न वा निरन्तर गर्न उत्प्रेरित गर्दछ ।

“यस समझदारी पत्रमार्फत, यूएनडीपी र एनसेलले काँधमा काँधदेखि पाउमा पाउ मिलाउँदै एउटै चालमा लय मिलाउनेछन् । सरल भाषामा भन्नुपर्दा, जीवनलाई स्वच्छ (फिट) र सुरक्षित राख्न तथा पृथ्वीलाई संरक्षण गर्न टेवा दिइनेछ,” यूएनडीपीकी आवासीय प्रतिनिधि ऐसानी मेडागांगोडा लेबले भन्नुभयो, “यूएनडीपी शहरी दिगो प्रतिफल हासिल गर्न र वायु प्रदूषण, सवारी चाप तथा सडक सुरक्षा एवं लाखौं शहरी बासिन्दाको गुणस्तरीय जीवनमा प्रत्यक्ष प्रभाव पार्ने सवालमा सार्वजनिक—निजी साझेदारीको प्रभावकारितामा विश्वास गर्दछ ।”

एनसेलका प्रमुख कार्यकाकारी अधिकृत एन्डी चोङ्ले यो अभियान दिगो समाजप्रतिको प्रतिबद्धता र मातृ कम्पनी आजियाटाको ‘नेट–जिरो कार्बन’ लक्ष्यसँग जोडिएको बताउनुभयो । “साइकल यात्रालाई शहरी आउजाउ, व्यावहारिक रूपमा छोटो–तथा मध्यम दूरीको यातायातको दिगो साधनका रूपमा प्रवद्र्धन गर्न र हरित उद्देश्य प्राप्तिका लागि संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघसँग हातेमालो गर्न पाएकोमा एनसेल आभारी छ,” उहाँले भन्नुभयो, “साइकल यात्राका अनेकन् फाइदासँगै हामी यो विश्वास गर्दछौं कि शहरमा यात्रा गर्ने हाम्रो शैलीमा परिवर्तनको सम्भावना छ ।”

यूएनडीपी र एनसेलबीच हस्ताक्षर भएको समझदारी पत्रले नेपालमा दिगो विकास लक्ष्यको प्रगतिका लागि संयुक्त रूपमा पहलकदमी लिन र अन्वेषण गर्न प्रतिबद्धता व्यक्त गर्दछ ।

नेपाल सरकारको ‘विद्युतीय आवागमनका लागि राष्ट्रिय योजना (एनपीईएम)’ले सन् २०५० सम्ममा अन्य विविध उपायसँगै यातायात क्षेत्रमा धाउजन्य इन्धन प्रयोग ५०५ ले घटाई वायु प्रदूषणमा सुधार ल्याउने लक्ष्य राखेको छ । त्यससँगै पुराना र मर्मत नगरिएका सवारीसाधन, उद्योगको फोहरबाट हुने प्रदूषण दर घटाउने लक्ष्य पनि एनपीईएमको छ । शहरमा साइकल यात्रा अभियानले यो लक्ष्यमा योगदान गर्ने अपेक्षा गरिएको छ ।

“यो सबैका लागि पहुँचयोग्य र सबैलाई फाइदा पु¥याउने एउटा खेल हो । कुनै पनि व्यक्तिले स्मार्टफोनबिनै वा यसको साथमा यसमा सहभागी हुन र सुविधा भोग गर्न पाउँछन्, जसले गर्दा उनीहरू आफैंको र शहरको समेत भलो हुन्छ,” साइकल सिटी नेटवर्क नेपाल (सीसीएनएन)का अध्यक्ष शैलेन्द्र डंगोलले भन्नुभयो, “असंख्य अभ्यास र परीक्षणपछि अन्ततः हामीले साइकल गेम एप, ग्रिनवे सुरु गर्न सकेका छौं । म यो अभियानमा भाग लिन र यसबाट लाभ लिन सबैमा आह्वान गर्दछु ।”

World Bicycle Day

World Bicycle Day 2021 “I Cycle Because…”

On the occasion of World Bicycle Day 2021, we asked some fellow cyclists why they cycle. We have compiled all the submitted videos and have published them. It was really fun to hear your stories of what you think is needed to make bicycles a true part of everyday life, why it’s fun, why you love it, what kinds of things and places you see on your rides, and what you believe is needed to make bicycles a true part of life. And if you are trying to find a reason to cycle then join us in our campaign “My way, Greenway” through our mobile application. Thank you all for your participation and Happy World Bicycle Day 2021! #CycleCityNetworkNepal #CCNN #cycling #gogreen #healthylife #saveenvironment #WorldBicycleDay #WorldBicycleDayCampaign #purposeofcycling

bike for change

Bike the Lake forms a partnership with Cycle City Network Nepal to support cycling across Nepal

12th of March 2021

Kathmandu and Geneva – Bike the Lake ( BTL)  and Cycle City Network Nepal (CCNN) are delighted to announce a strategic partnership to support cycling in Nepal.

The partnership will support practical programs to help people to cycle to work, support women and children to cycle more through training on maintenance and road safety, highlight the environmental benefits of cycling, alongside the COVID-safe aspects of cycling compared to public transport:

Bike the Lake will support outreach to other partners, directly and jointly fundraise to support the 4 programs, and build the bilateral cycling community between its members in Geneva and the CCNN cyclists in Nepal.

CCNN will continue to advocate for cycling in Nepal and build out its 4 programs through joint fundraisers with BTL and other partners including UNDP and UNESCO.

In our December Cycle Challenge, we challenged our community to cycle more than 50 km and 0.5kms climbing, each week until the end of 2020. Impressive performances of over 400kms and 4000 metres climbing were seen each week, along with sharing routes and tips. Together with Visuals and UNESCO we fundraised around CHF3000 to strategically support cycling in Nepal. 

This years’ Bike the Lake event will support CCNN, and also help CCNN attract other more substantial funding to build cycling in Nepal. 

Strava and Facebook platforms to continue to build as joint communities,  with challenges along the way.

We are grateful for the continued support from our sponsors WTV. and Visuals, as well as UNESCO.

Bike the Lake‘ is a group of relaxed cyclists in the Lake Geneva region who like to get out on their bikes regularly with the goal of an annual charitable cycle around Lake Geneva. Founded in 2007 we have varied our charitable support across projects education and health and now for the first time we are pleased to have found a strategic partner focused on cycling with health and educational aspects where we can make a real difference. 

The main annual Bike the Lake event is a one day cycle around Lake Geneva – 185km)

Cycle City Network-Nepal (CCNN)”, started as a campaign “Kathmandu Cycle City-2020” in 2009 to make Kathmandu a cycle-friendly city by 2020, and later on it established in 2012, as a non-profit organization dedicated to improve the quality of the environment and contribute to a healthy lifestyle by promoting the use of eco-friendly means of transport, the bicycle. currently, it has initiated another campaign as “My way is Greenway”. The campaign focuses on promoting cycling by incentivizing the rides of the cycle users as well as letting the local government bodies provide more support in terms of infrastructure for cycling. The main attraction of the campaign is the mobile application meant for cycle users. Currently, the mobile application is over the google play store. The link to the mobile application is Greenway.

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Media contacts:  Sailendra Dangol | +977 9851229253 | cyclecitynetworknepal@gmail.com

Jon Bastow | +33 652928779 | JGBASTOW@gmail.com 

 Bike for Change

Campaign

Campaign to Promote Cycling for Healthy Cities Launched

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PRESS RELEASE

1 January 2021, Kathmandu

The Government of Nepal Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, United Nations Development Programme, Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Kantipur Media Group and Cycle City Network Nepal jointly launched a new Campaign to promote cycling and other environment-friendly practices in Nepal.

The initiative, which will kick off with a cycle rally in Lalitpur on January 9, will promote sustainable urban mobility and environment-friendly lifestyle choices for urban populations in the context of COVID-19 and beyond by promoting cycling as an alternative mode of clean, healthy and affordable transport for commuters in cities. Part of the campaign will also focus on advocacy and awareness for adoption of cycle-friendly policies and programs and environment-friendly lifestyle choices for urban populations. The campaign will be launched from at least two municipalities, and one of them will be Lalitpur Metropolitan City, and will be scaled up further in the coming years.

The campaign will make use of existing technology to track, map, credit and reward cycling practices and gradually connect with the larger ecosystem of solutions for healthy cities. People will be motivated to use cycle or switch to cycling and other forms of cleaner transport through gamification of the cycling practice that incentivizes cyclists with rewards and also favours clean-businesses that sponsor and take part in the game. The campaign assumes that people will be more willing to switch to or continue cycle-commuting for multiple reasons, including, economic, health, environmental as well as COVID related safety reasons. The challenges are to ensure more investment for cycle-friendly infrastructure so that safety issues could be improved.

The cycle campaign will offer opportunities for private sector contribution through sponsorship and other in-kind rewards, along with some business development opportunities for interested private sector companies as we move ahead.

“Bicycle has been in use for two centuries, and it continues to be a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation, fostering environmental stewardship and health.  Cycling should be included in the development programmes where stakeholders encourage the use of the bicycle as a means of fostering sustainable development. It is a means to access schools, health facilities, and to keep fit young and old, rich and poor alike,” said UNDP Resident Representative Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe. Success of such initiatives, she said, will depend on how all others, including motorists and policy makers facilitate the ride, including safety and security.

“Lalitpur Metropolitan City is pleased to launch this joint campaign to further motivate the people in our city to use cycle as an alternative means of transport. As the first city to have initiated cycle lanes, I believe it makes great sense to initiate the cycle campaign from Lalitpur. We look forward to building healthier cities together,” said Lalitpur Metropolitan City Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan.

“The Government of Nepal’s National Plan for Electric Mobility (NPEM) envisions improving air quality, among several other means, through 50% cut in the use of fossil fuels in the transport sector by 2050 and to decrease the rate of air pollution through proper monitoring of sources of pollutants across waste, old and unmaintained vehicles and industries. Promoting cycling in cities, I believe, will be one of the immediate and low-cost and most sustainable ways of reaching that target. Promoting cycling makes a strong case for sustainability of Nepal’s existing and emerging cities,” said Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Gopal Prasad Sigdel.

“We are proud to launch this campaign to encourage a larger mass to switch to cycling as an alternative mode of transport in cities across Nepal. We believe that this campaign would be helpful in bringing about a transformation for the good of our environment and public health,” said Mahesh Swar, Assistant General Manager of Kantipur Media Group.

“We are pleased to be part of this campaign which aims to provide an open platform for all cycle advocates to come together and collaborate for making our cities cycle friendly. The campaign will offer opportunities for private sector companies to sponsor, invest and experiment on a number of businesses around cycling, and other environment friendly practices such as recycling and plantation,” said CCNN President Shailendra Dongol.

The cycle campaign will also be backed up and supported by a wide range of partners, including Yeti Airlines, Sano Paila, G.D. Labs and Research and Cycling Cities, India. More partners and sponsors from local governments and private sector are expected to join in the coming days.

Membership for Cycle City Network Nepal announced

Cycle City Network Nepal (CCNN) is excited to open its 2018 call for applications for new members!

Cycle City Network Nepal (CCNN) is an is non-profit youth network with a dedication to improve the quality of environment, health and infrastructures by promoting the use of eco-friendly means of transport, the bicycle. The aim of this group is to justify, influence and encourage people to do cycling and lend hands in policy making, infrastructure development for secure, reliable and attractive depiction of bicycles among the people of all ages and groups. It aims to develop cycling as a sustainable and viable means of urban transportation.

We are looking for young people who are passionate about sustainable transport and environment and are eager to further their experience through advocacy work.

CCNN is a member-driven organization; time commitment and availability is key to CCNN’s success. In addition to supporting our principles and values, we look for members who have enough time to meaningfully contribute to the work that we do (members are required to devote a minimum of 7 hours per week to CCNN’s activities, which includes responding to emails, contributing to online discussions and taking part in our planned activities).

Cycle City Network Nepal recognizes the contributions and crucial perspectives that individuals from marginalized communities bring to our team.

Desirable skills and competencies include:

Demonstrated leadership experience;
Experience in fund development including proposal writing and stakeholder engagement;
Experience in strategic planning, budgeting, and human resource management, designing reports;
Facilitation and public speaking skills;
Experience in information and communications technologies, graphic design.
Experience in organizing advocacy campaigns;
Experience advocating for environment and sustainable transport ; and
Experience with local/regional/international volunteer and/or youth organizations/networks.

Membership Survey 2018

With a purpose to open the membership of Cycle City Network Nepal, an online survey was conducted via social media during the month of September 2018. The results of the survey are graphically presented in the article below. The survey depicted that the membership to the organization be announced for interested members to connect in the advocacy, campaigning and programs of the Cycle City Network Nepal.

Critical Mass Kathmandu October 2018

Critical Mass is a global movement of cyclists reclaiming the streets and showing the presence in bigger mass. Critical Mass Kathmandu monthly rides started since April 2013. The October edition of Critical Mass Kathmandu was dedicated to Late Dr. Pralad B. Yonzon. On 31st October, 2011 Dr. Prahlad B. Yonzon, a well-known wildlife biologist of Nepal met with an accident while cycling home from office.

On 26 October, 2018 with the theme of “Road safety in Nepal” we invite all the cyclists and non- cyclist people to show their concern by being visible. 

The Critical Mass Kathmandu meets at 5:30 PM on the last Friday of every month at Basantapur

World Bicycle Forum 2020 to be held in Nepal

The World Bicycle Forum (FMB) is the largest urban cycling event in the world that brings together citizens, groups and international networks of bike-activists and citizens interested in claiming the use of bicycles in public spaces, and how part of sustainable mobility in the city. It is a common good of encounter of the urban world cyclist culture characterized by its horizontality, collaborative relationships and volunteering. This event generates reflection and proposes proposals on: mobility, citizenship, planning, access and sustainability in order to positively impact the destiny of our cities. The forum is organized, designed, managed, carried out and maintained by bike-activists.

According to its creators the WBF began as an answer to an automobile driver deliberately colliding with around 20 cyclists that were participating in a Critical Mass event in Porto Alegre on February 25, 2011. The first edition of the WBF took place during the first anniversary of these events.

The WBF is composed of different events that include discussion panels with invited speakers, self-managed workshops, cultural activities including art and video exhibitions, artistic performances and several cycling events.

Beyond the discussion, the WBF tries to strengthen the social networks among participants from different cities and countries, to encourage permanent changes in the venue city and, through the sharing of experiences and practical workshops, to stimulate an immediate personal change of the participants.

The WBF has been held in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre (2012 and 2013) and Curitiba (2014). In 2015 Medellin, Colombia, was the first city outside of Brazil to host the event. The 2016 edition of the event took place in Santiago, Chile, from March 31 to April 05, 2016 and 2017 edition was held in Mexico City, Mexico April 19 to 23 2017, with the theme ‘Handmade Cities’. The 2018 edition was held in Lima, Peru February 22 to 26 where representatives from Nepal, Mr. Shail Shrestha and Mr. Sramdip Purkoti participated in the event and won the election to hold the forum in the year 2020 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

We also invite all the interested people, groups or organizations to be part of the team for WBF 2020. Please write to us at cyclecitynetworknepal@gmail.com

Winner of Click2win for Kora Announced

With a chance to fly to any destination in Europe, courtesy of Turkish Airlines a online photo competition was held during Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge 2018. Top 10 photographs amongst 68 entries were judged by Photo Kathmandu and the winner was selected by the highest number of likes in the facebook.

Amongst the top 10 finalist Mr. Bivek Shrestha received 4.4k likes in the facebook and won the Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge Photo Competition. Bibek Shrestha, winner of the #kora18 click2win won himself a ticket to anywhere in Europe sponsored by Turkish Airlines. 

Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge 2018

#kora2018
Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge 2018

In Buddhism and Hinduism a Kora is a circumambulation, done clockwise, usually around a religious structure. It is said that a single Kora around Mt. Kailash in Tibet for example is enough for one lifetime. Kathmandu, with its myriad religious structures is a perfect location to do a circumambulation. It boasts two of the most revered Buddhist Stupas of Boudha & Swayambhu, and one of the top eight temples for Hindus worldwide, Pashupatinath. This Challenge circumambulates the valley, clockwise, right at the edge of the valley, away from the hustle of the city, through small dirt trails passing by picturesque rural settings, raising money per km biked for a worthy cause.

Kora Cycling Challenge has become a name which every cycle enthuse feels proud to be part of. There are two reason to it, one get an opportunity to ride historical places around Kathmandu and second the riders raise fund for the causes. The challenge was started back in 2011 with 35 riders and this year the ride took place simultaneously in four different places i.e. Butwal, Pokhara, Hetauda and Dharan beside Kathmandu- supporting the need to raise funds for the Narayan Gopal Fund – and also to help build the cycling communities via this mass ride. 

The main organisers of this event in Kathmandu are Socialtours and Kathmandu Cycle City 2020, Cycle City Network Nepal, supported by outdoor event partners Pangro. This is supported by various organizations, volunteers, clubs, and companies. Three different categories i.e. 50km, 75km and 100km was challenge for the riders in which this year’s challenge saw participation of 2213 cyclist in Kathmandu itself.

Eight years ago, the seed of promoting adventure sport supported crowdsourcing for social good was born in the form of Kathmandu Kora. Over the years with charitable assistance from fellow riders and supporters, Kathmandu Kora was able to complete various projects that brought huge benefits to the local communities. Resources raised from Kora 2011 were used to upgrade schooling facilities at Samata School and OCCED.

Subsequent funds were then used, with the technical support of Save the Children Alliance, to upgrade a birthing center at Rukum and a Health Post in Dolakha. Funds contributed to Kora 2013 were used to build a completely new birthing center in Baitadi. Similarly pledges from 2015 was used to build a health post at Makaibari in Dolakha, post the devastating Earthquake. Over the years the cycling fraternity has made its presence felt in local communities. To date, over Rs. 50,00,000 has been invested in social causes. In 2017, the last edition had over 2500 riders raising over Rs. 500,000 for the Bungamati Trails Initiative – the first ever attempt to create a cycling destination in Nepal! Funds are currently being utilised by the Initiative to build and mark trails, and work on the other requirements of a cycling destination!

This year Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge 2018 called for a proposal for a cause to support during the 2018 ride and raise funds through pledges subsequently. The cause to support could Team Kora – judged on ingenuity, clarity and marketability of the cause and two causes were selected.

This year, three causes have been selected to fund-raise for :-

#Ladies Mountain League – which is trying to empower women through adventure sports. Details at www.ladiesmountainleague.com

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#Survivor Nepal – which provides a cash incentive to earthquake safe housing. Details at www.the-survivors.org

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#Narayan Gopal Fund – aimed to help the family of National Cyclist Late Narayan Gopal Maharjan, who met with an unfortunate accident while racing in Sri Lanka.

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