Government’s lukewarm response to promoting Kathmandu as a cycle city has created more problems to the cyclists who find the existing route inconsistent and unsafe. 

Independent groups of cyclists and urban planners have been lobbying for proper cycle tracks in the Valley in a bid to improve the local environment by mitigating emissions from vehicles. Cycle rallies are being organised at regular intervals to mark various occasions to press the government to build proper cycling infrastructure and make investment to promote Kathmandu as a cycle-friendly city. 

However, the government’s assurance to promote cycling culture in Kathmandu has so far proved to be more of a ‘publicity stunt’, complains Prashanta Khanal, a young cyclist, who has been engaged in talks with the government authorities on the matter. 

About three years ago, the then chief secretary Lila Mani Paudyal had vowed to build bicycle lanes of around 100 km in length in the Valley. But the work never took off, except for the 2.7-km track on the Maitighar-Tinkune section—built at the time of road expansion in 2013. 

“It was a positive intervention when the city planners accommodated the cycle track in the expanded road section. Unfortunately, the inconsistent and non-continuous lanes together with poor design 

and infrastructure have put cycle users off the track,” Khanal said. 

Khanal, who along with other independent engineers, planners and practitioners, has proposed a redesigning of the existing Maitighar-Tinkune stretch to make it more safe and cycling-friendly. The team has stressed on the need to build network of tracks in the city to make cycling viable and has also proposed a 105-km cycle track, along with green corridor, inside the city. 

Recently, the Ministry of Environment has formed a working committee comprising representatives from the Department of Roads, Metropolitan Traffic Police Division and Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, among others, to look over the issues related to promotion of cycling in the Valley.