Roadblocks to livelihood for 73% of Kol cyclists: Study

Kolkata: Livelihood cyclists made up 73% of bicycle-riders in Kolkata, revealed a newly released study, prompting demands for the lifting of the prohibition on the eco-friendly two-wheelers on as many as 71 roads in the city.

Bicycles, the cleanest mode of transport independent of any fossil fuel, powered 75% of Kolkata’s short trips, found the study, which pointed out that the two-wheelers were casualties, and not the cause, of the city’s traffic congestion amid the burgeoning number of automobiles on the roads.

The data released by Sustainable Mobility Network (SMN) on World Bicycle Day showed a paradox in Kolkata’s urban planning: While 71 thoroughfares remained under a partial or full bicycle ban, the city continued to witness an explosion of new automobiles on streets, with figures from the four regional transport offices (RTOs) in early 2025 showing the registration of 1,00,167 new vehicles.

The SMN study argued that Kolkata continued to aggressively add cars to its severely limited 6% road space, systematically pushing out cycles, the most sustainable, zero-emission transport option. For years, Kolkata Police has maintained that the prohibitions under Sub-Rule (2) of Rule 291 of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 were necessary for road safety and traffic flow and authorities argued that cycles were incompatible with fast-moving vehicles and slowed down arterial roads, said Satanjib Gupta, Kolkata’s bicycle mayor. But the Kolkata Police has reportedly expressed a willingness to revisit the scope of the restrictions, based on evolving data.

But SMN’s Speed and Sustainability Mapping Study tracked key banned corridors, including the Sealdah and Ultadanga flyovers, Raja S C Mullick Road and the Rash Behari connector, and found the stretches heavily gridlocked during both peak as well as lean hours, even with bicycles being entirely absent. “Congestion follows motor vehicles, not bicycles,” the report states, noting that in high-traffic zones, all vehicles slowed down equally. “The evidence suggests the banning of cycles had no measurable impact on easing jams,” said Raghu Jana of Kolkata Cycle Samaj.

The study showed 72% of cyclist respondents had been riding for over a decade. The prohibition on 71 roads, cyclists said, had a tangible fallout as 33% of them said it made their daily commute incredibly difficult. Others pointed at physical toll, as their “body felt heavy” or that “something went missing”.
Despite the financial and environmental benefits, including zero-carbon emission and reduced public transport dependency, riding cycles in Kolkata remained a perilous endeavour. Around 78% cyclists cited absence of separate lanes, 68% pointed at poor road conditions and 58% cited a fundamental fear of motor vehicles as their primary grievance.

To transition Kolkata into a climate-resilient, inclusive mega-city, the SMN has proposed a five-step policy, drawing inspiration from global success stories in Paris, Amsterdam and Bogota. They are commissioning data-driven traffic counts, before-and-after congestion studies on the 71 banned roads to check if the cycle restrictions actually yielded any traffic benefit, implementing low-cost, protected cycle infrastructure on three to five high-use corridors by 2027, separating cyclists from heavy motorists, rather than excluding them entirely, integrating cycling infrastructure directly with public transit hubs and offering secure bicycle parking at metro stations, bus terminals and ferry ghats.