Kathmandu municipality considers that getting rid of hawkers and street food vendors makes the city “clean.”
In Kathmandu’s dusty streets, people pedal and push bicycles from dawn to dusk for their day-to-day livelihood. They exist like a species facing extinction. Who cares about them? This is a big but often ignored issue. Planners obsessed with car culture overlook them. But livelihood cyclists stimulate the socio-economic ecosystem of the city. Here we introduce Kathmandu’s four foremost livelihood cycling groups.
Door-to-door vendors – sustaining local economies
Multiple livelihood cycling groups use bicycles for vending goods door-to-door. This informal sector offers an important platform of earning livelihood for the urban poor. But hawkers have a hard time in Kathmandu.
Gautam Yadav arrives at the central Kalimati vegetable market everyday at 4 am. He does not have time to cook or eat beforehand. Instead, he eats in low-cost hotels, uses public or open toilets, and rushes to sell vegetables from house to house. Pollution hits him hard. Yadav says, “It is not our wish to endure the pollution from dawn to dusk; it is a compulsion.”
Kathmandu’s hawkers face a wide range of risks, including unsafe roads and city police who prohibit them from selling their goods in public places. Recently, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City police have confiscated their bicycles. Mass protest did not stop the municipality, which has outlawed bicycles on motor vehicle roads. The police have confiscated thousands of hawkers’ bicycles and sold them for scrap metal. However, the hawkers still exist.
Kathmandu municipality considers that getting rid of hawkers and street food vendors makes the city “clean.” Others think hawkers provide an important service, encourage small-scale economies, and help give Kathmandu “character.”
Struggle to survive
Kawadiwalas – the recycling heroes
According to CBO, each day 18 municipalities of Kathmandu valley generate 1200 metric tones of solid waste, of which 50 percent comes from Kathmandu Metropolitan City alone. Most goes to landfills. Many poor people engage in waste collection, processing, and resale as a major source of livelihood. Around 1000 kawadi goods collection centres in Kathmandu mobilize more than 8000 kawadiwalas to roam the streets everyday looking for recyclable waste. Kawadiwalas also work in solid waste landfill sites as waste collectors, segregators, pheriyas (scrap buyers), and cleaners.
But rather than honoring kawadiwallas, as we should, we speak of them derogatorily as khate. We want our surroundings clean but we disrespect the kawadiwalas and cleaners who do the actual cleaning.
“Moving around the city, Kawadiwalas manage 30% of Kathmandu’s waste,” says Sanjaya Shah, a Kawadi collector. Poor people like kawadiwalas pedal or push bicycles for livelihood, not a lifestyle. They call their bicycle the best motor of majdurs (laborers).
Despite their critical role in the sustainability of the city’s waste system, the problems of Kawadiwalas and their reliance on old or budho bicycles are not addressed by policy makers and planners.
Delivery cyclists – a new story in green mobility
Pedaling for home food delivery is a new phenomenon in Kathmandu. As fuel prices have climbed, many motorcyclists involved in food delivery have switched to bicycling. During and after the pandemic, many college students and youths have started using bicycles for delivery. Hundreds of cyclists have appeared on the streets for food delivery.
Firms such as Foodmandu, Pathao, Bhojdeal have hired hundreds of cyclists for short-distance food delivery. While most cycle delivery workers are male, a few female cyclists also ply the streets as Pathao drivers.
One of the bicyclists from Pathao, Sunil Tamang, sold his scooter to buy an e-bicycle. “Now, I save all the money that I earn,” says Sunil. While the income is decent, these delivery cyclists face high time pressure and must navigate polluted, congested, and unsafe streets. Suraj Lama points out that carrying a big box on his back and pedaling is not easy. The streets, full of dirt and dust, are often crumbled or congested. Most motor vehicles push aside cyclists.
Sadly, a young Pathao delivery cyclist, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, was killed in a road accident in August 2023. Delivery cyclists lack security. Puskar Bhandari says ‘good day’ with smiles to all during his food deliveries. He feels unsure he will ever meet his customers again.
The gig economy has bloomed in Kathmandu. Cyclists have revolutionized the takeaway delivery occupation despite the risky roads.
Commuting cyclists - a heterogeneous community
In Kathmandu, until the 1990s, many high and low wage office workers routinely pedaled to work. Public offices offered dedicated spaces for bicycles. People of all professions pedaled together. Government registered bicycles with number plates. But nowadays, most middle-class people prefer private motor vehicles. They dream of a super elite lifestyle. Meanwhile, car centric policies have pushed cyclists away from the core streets.
A few brave souls still use bicycles for commuting. Punam Thulung, a St. Xavier’s College student, is a dedicated bicycle commuter. “If the road is safer,” she says, “thousands of girls will be on the streets pedaling.” She pedals everyday 10 km from Kirtipur for work after college to save time and travel costs. Chitra Bahadur Pun, an entrepreneur, stresses the ecological benefit of cycling: “I pedal to the office, saving at least 50 liters of petrol and 100 kg of carbon per month.”
Lower-income worker cyclists like Dhani Lal Gupta, who works in the landfill site, pedal for reducing travel cost and avoiding disturbing passengers on public buses. Mina Tamang supports Gupta saying, “Even if we take a bath, people smell us on the bus, so we prefer cycling.”
Many cyclists from the disabled community use bicycles; only a few of Kathmandu’s buses are equipped for people with disabilities. Some disabled people even use bicycles for their day-to-day livelihood. Sukhal Paswan, who lost his right hand 25 years ago, is taking care of his 5-person family transporting goods on his old bicycle. Ashok Pandit, who lost both his hands in an accident, pedals 21 km everyday, collecting firewood by his legs to sell in the local market.
Cyclists like Sukhal and Ashok inspire many others to use bicycles for commuting and livelihood.
Final thoughts
In Kathmandu, leaving livelihood cyclists out of government policy denies them fairness and justice. They appear nowhere in plans and policies. The government centers its plans and actions on the motor vehicles of the elite. This is a form of slow, hard-to-see violence. Livelihood cycling groups look invisible, but they are there. Kathmandu dies without them.
