By Ali Asif Shawon
In the choking traffic of Dhaka, bicycles continue to move quietly through the city—often unnoticed, often unsafe, but still essential.
A new study published in Nature Cities this week shows that cycling remains a lifeline for thousands of low-income urban residents across cities in the Global South, including Dhaka. Yet despite its potential to reduce air pollution, carbon emissions, and public health risks, cycling remains largely absent from urban transport planning in Bangladesh.
Cycling is not a lifestyle choice—it is survival
For many in Dhaka, cycling is not about fitness or leisure. It is about getting to work.
Researchers conducting fieldwork in Dhaka, Delhi, Chennai, and Accra found that bicycles are widely used by lower-income residents—particularly young men who travel long distances to informal or low-paid jobs. In Dhaka, delivery workers transporting food and medical supplies increasingly rely on bicycles to navigate congested streets, even as the city offers them little protection.
Women and girls also cycle, but far less frequently and usually only for short trips within neighborhoods. Safety concerns, social norms, and caregiving responsibilities limit their mobility.
This reality contradicts a common assumption among policymakers: that cycling naturally disappears as cities “modernize.” Instead, the study documents enduring cycling corridors across Dhaka—routes sustained not by government planning, but by necessity.
A city built for cars, not people on bikes
Dhaka’s road infrastructure, the researchers argue, is fundamentally hostile to cyclists.
Flyovers, wide intersections, central dividers, and fast-moving traffic make cycling physically demanding and dangerous. These risks intensify during extreme heat, monsoon rains, and seasonal flooding—conditions that are becoming more frequent with climate change.
Even where bike lanes exist, they are often short, disconnected, and poorly enforced. Researchers observed bicycle lanes blocked by parked vehicles, street vendors, construction materials, or motorcyclists trying to avoid traffic jams.
Worse still, cycling infrastructure is often placed in affluent areas where few people cycle, while densely populated, lower-income neighborhoods—where demand is high—remain underserved. When official planning documents do mention cycling, it is usually framed as part of beautification or recreational projects, not as a core mode of transport.
“What we’re seeing is not the absence of cycling, but the absence of institutional support,” said Rahul Goel, an assistant professor at IIT Delhi and a co-author of the study. “Cycling survives through informal systems that policymakers barely acknowledge.”
The hidden systems keeping cycling alive
Despite neglect, cycling in Dhaka persists through informal networks: roadside repair shops, secondhand bicycle markets, and community-based support systems. These networks make cycling affordable and accessible for low-income users—but they are fragile.
The study warns that without policy support; these informal systems may not survive. As incomes rise and roads become more hostile, many current cyclists could shift to motorcycles or private cars, increasing congestion and pollution.
A missed chance for clean air and better health
Bangladesh is among the countries most affected by air pollution, with the transport sector a major contributor. Yet cycling—one of the cleanest, cheapest, and healthiest forms of mobility—barely features in national or city-level transport strategies.
According to the researchers, focusing on making cycling safer for people who already ride could deliver immediate benefits: lower emissions, cleaner air, and better health outcomes, particularly for low-income communities.
“By addressing the risks faced by those who already cycle, we can prevent a shift toward private motor vehicles as wealth increases,” said Smruthi Bala Kannan, who led the study.
University of Chicago associate professor Kavi Bhalla, another co-author, stressed that cycling also plays a critical role in addressing public health challenges.
“Cycling holds great promise for tackling the dual health epidemics of under- and over-nutrition,” he said. “It also has enormous potential to reduce urban air pollution and mitigate the health impacts of greenhouse gas emissions in low- and middle-income countries.”
Why copying Western models won’t work
The study cautions against simply importing cycling policies from Europe or North America.
Cities like Dhaka face different challenges: extreme heat, flooding, informal employment patterns, and dense neighborhoods with limited road space. Effective cycling policies, the researchers argue, must be locally designed—focusing on road safety, climate resilience, and connected cycling networks where people actually live and work.
They also call for stronger involvement from health and environment ministries, rather than leaving cycling solely to transport authorities. Cycling, they argue, is not just a transport issue—it is a public health, equity, and climate issue.