Bicycles find feet as rulers of road

DOUMA, Syria — In the formerly rebel-held district of Douma east of Damascus, cars have been deserted with no fuel during the war, which pushed people to bicycles as an alternative means of transportation.

That sprawling district in the Eastern Ghouta countryside was retaken by the army after the rebels’ evacuation last month, and the streets in the central part of Douma are now bustling with people riding bicycles.

Most of the few vehicles seen on the streets belong to the army or are trucks bringing in food to people in the area, which was the most important bastion of the Islam Army rebels.

Burned and destroyed cars were also left on the sidewalks in some of the streets, reflecting the damage that has befallen large areas as a result of the war that has dragged on for six years in Eastern Ghouta.

Old and young men, as well as children, were riding bicycles and the people seemed to have overcome the problem of no regular transportation.

Bilal Delawa was riding his bicycle with his friend sitting behind him. He said those bicycles have been important for the people there with the high price of the fuel during the rebels’ time.

“Most people have opted to ride bicycles and it has become the main transportation here in Douma because the fuel was expensive but of course, we favor cars or motorcycles or buses,” he said.

Another biker, Omar al-Ruz, said even though the bikes were an acceptable alternative during the war, but they were not enough, especially for workers who move heavy stuff from one place to another.

“The bicycle wasn’t enough of a transportation to meet our demands ... for example, I can’t transport goods of 100 kilograms on this bicycle, maybe 50 kg max,” he said.

For his part, Bashar Ajweh, another resident of Douma, said that several places for fixing bicycles were opened in Douma during the war, adding that maintenance workers used to charge very high fees for fixing the bicycles, whose prices have jumped 10fold during the war.

He said that he used to buy fuel in plastic cans for his motorcycle but when it got so expensive, he parked it and started using both the electric bicycle and the regular one.

“Bicycles have not only become the main transportation for regular people but also for workers who move stuff from one place to another, but of course light stuff only,” Ajweh said.

For the people in Douma, the transportation at this moment is important but the more important thing is food, which has started entering Douma at prices supported by the government, contrary to the rebel times when the militants used to stockpile food in their warehouses, and what little they gave to people was at high prices.

During a visit for media outlets to Douma on Sunday, people were lined up to receive free bread bundles provided by the government.

Also trucks of food items such as potatoes, tomatoes and cucumber were seen being sold to civilians at affordable prices.

People were seen carrying heavy bags of potatoes while expressing relief that they could finally buy food at low prices, as everything was extremely expensive during the rebels’ control in Douma also due to the siege that was imposed on that area and other rebel-held areas in Eastern Ghouta.