Mohammad Nahian
A good number of people belonging to middle- and low-income groups have been choosing bicycles over public transports to avoid traffic rush amid the Covid-19 pandemic, causing a rise in sales of cheaper bicycles.
As the government enforced a lockdown to stop the spread of novel coronavirus infection during the second wave of the pandemic, the demand, mostly in the capital, for low-cost bicycles ranging from Tk7000 to Tk10,000 has moved up in the last couple of weeks.
While visiting several bicycle stores in Dhaka it was found that people were increasingly asking for low-price bicycles in recent days.
I'm here to purchase a bicycle as a mode of transportation because taking public transports to office poses a risk of Covid infection,” Sharif Hossain, an employee of a private company engaged in delivering documents, told The Business Post at a bicycle shop in Gulshan area.
Considering the current situation, it is safer to use personal transport. Since my income shrank due to the pandemic, I had to reduce my budget for buying a bicycle and thus prefer a cheaper one,” he said, adding that riding a bicycle is more flexible compared to other transports and also is a good exercise.
Shop owners said customers want to purchase bicycles as an alternative to public transport for maintaining physical distance.
However, sellers mentioned facing difficulty in meeting demand due to a delay in receiving their imports in pandemic situation, which caused a disruption in supply chain.
The demand for low-cost bicycles is currently increasing. Customers want to buy bikes within a low budget,” said Mohammad Akbar Hossain, owner of Bismillah Cycle Store located at Bangshal Road in the capital.
“In the last three months, no bicycle could be imported due to the pandemic. Many of our customers want bikes imported from China. But the supply is not adequate right now,” he added.
Phoenix bicycles are more in demand than other bikes. Besides, customers are looking for bicycles in a very low cost which is not available in the market right now. The supply of imported bicycles is significantly low,” said Iqbal Hossain Ponu, proprietor, M I Enterprise in Gulshan-1.
Low-income employees of different organisations want to buy cycles within Tk 6,000 to Tk 7,000, he added.
Customers are not buying bicycles for their children like before as they are not allowed to go to schools and parks due to the Covid-19 pandemic. People of different income groups visited our store but many of them want to purchase bicycles within a low price,’’ said Alamgir Ahmed, a salesman of Rajanigandha Enterprise at DNCC Super Market in the capital.
We are not getting enough bicycles as supply is scarce in the market. Office employees visited our shop more than other groups of customers,’’ he added.
Since the pandemic hit, importers have been struggling to meet the demand as we don’t have enough bicycles in stock,” said Md Russel Rahman, office secretary of Bangladesh Bicycle Merchant Assembling & Importers Association (BBMAIA).
Usually, around 75 per cent bicycles are imported from China. We import bicycles from India as well. Covid-19 has had a damaging impact over the country’s economy that also reduced bicycle import,’’ he added.
Duranta Bicycle showroom manager (Mohammadpur) Md Ashikur Rahman also mentioned the rise in demand, adding that customers want bicycles within the price range of Tk,10,000-Tk,12,000.
Many other bicycle shopkeepers told The Business Post that imported bicycles, mostly from China and India, have witnessed more demands than others due to their eye-catching designs and reasonable price ranges. But those bikes are not much available in the local market right now.
