And on the streets on Kathmandu where an estimated 450,000 vehicles are on chaotic runs, bicycles are hardly counted as a means of transportation. [break]Among the countless number of motorbikes snaking through every small space in the streets, reckless microbuses and the zooming red-plated vehicles, people pedaling on the two wheelers perhaps aren’t considered a part of the flowing traffic.
Bajracharya terms motorcycles “as the biggest risk” on the road and said cyclists should be “more conscious and careful.”
An environmental photojournalist by profession, 35-year-old Bajrachayra has been cycling since his school days in 1992. The main reason he started biking, he said, was his love for sports and adventure. But more than being healthy, now, he cycles considering the environment as well.
“If I can’t make the environment better, I wouldn’t want to make it worse,” he said of the rising pollution level in the city. And cycling is his way of contributing to the environment.
But in today’s age when global warming and climate change have become intergral parts of the conversation, people are showing their concerns through their actions and initiatives. It looks like they care for the environment. For people like Bajracharya, commuting to work or any other place on his bike is his way of life.
In recent times, this has turned into a fad, and a good one at that. Laxmi Bank Limited’s bike to work is one such act on their part to promote an environmentally friendly commute.
As a part of the bank’s going green strategy, it is introducing Bike Friday program today where employees are encouraged to bike to work on Fridays.
Nikesh Ghimire, Manager of Bank 2.0, who is also coordinating the bike program, said that this will “contribute to the environment and also physical exercise.”
At Laxmi Bank, an estimated 50 employees including their chief executive officer (CEO) have signed up for the first day of Bike Friday.
Suman Joshi, CEO of Laxmi Bank, expressed that “biking to work is not only fun and good for your well being, but it’s a ‘green’ choice of life.”
Amit Adhikari, branch manager of Laxmi Bank at Sukedhara, is one of the members biking to work on Fridays. Adhikari, who usually drives to work otherwise, said that biking to work for a day could make significant impacts on cutting carbon emmission in the long run. However, it shouldn’t be only limited to a single day.
“Friday is just being symbolic. Let’s just not stick to Fridays,” Adhikari said to which their CEO added, “Start with Bike Fridays, [we’re] embracing environmentally friendly habits.”
But for Bajracharya, it is an everyday affair, and though his love for cycling has never faded, the challenges have only increased. However, he has learned to calculate the risks, challenges and time. To avoid traffic, the photojournalist usually makes his move before or after traffic hours, navigates through the inner roads, and uses proper lights in the dark, which he said he didn’t have to do in the early days. Bike lanes, he added, could be helpful to cyclists.
According to Sanjaya Upadhyay, engineer at Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office, there is a 500-meter cycle track in the east side of the Gongabu Bus Park. Though this track can be taken as a model, it is difficult to develop bicycle lanes or tracks througout the city, he said. While cycle lanes are included in the broader concept, there has been no initiative in the implementation phase, nor is there a master plan for it.
“There’s no meaning making a track only in one part of the city,” he said. “There should be an overall plan for comprehensive cycle tracks.”
Regardless of proper space for bicyles on the road, cyclists also deal with other problems, parking being a major one. Even though Kathmandu has developed major parking spaces, almost all of them lack proper stands for parking bicycles. In most cases, cyclists have to lock their bicycles and rest them under the staircases.
At Laxmi Bank, to make it convenient for employees who bike to work, separate bike stands are being planned. As of now, the bank has allocated 10 portable bicycle stands in its various branches, including its corporate office at Hattisar. And as the committed employees who will cycle to work increase, Ghimire said more portable stands will be added.
But, despite parking problems and chaotic commute, cyclists like Bajracharya still enjoy their ride and intend to stick to their bikes.
“It’s not only poor people who ride bicycles,” Bajracharya negated the notion that the society holds. “It’s about being physically active. It’s about your role in saving the environment.”
This may just be the start that individuals and corporate houses have realized their social responsibilities. Maybe, Bike Fridays will soon be adapted by other organizations and further expanded into other programs. Maybe it could be Walk Mondays, Carpool Tuesdays and Safa Tempo Wednesdays.
Related story
Army chief pedals to office
