Bicycle sales stall in Erbil as infrastructure and salary crisis take toll

ERBIL — Bicycle use and sales in Erbil have dropped sharply this season, with vendors citing poor infrastructure and worsening economic conditions due to the ongoing public sector salary crisis, according to interviews conducted Tuesday on World Bicycle Day.

Residents pointed to the lack of designated bike lanes as a major deterrent to cycling, while sellers described the current season as one of the weakest in decades—particularly ahead of Eid Al-Adha, which started today—as purchasing power declines across the city.

Most of the new bicycles on the market come from China, vendors said, and are known for poor build quality. That has led many to shift toward high-spec, secondhand imports from Europe despite their higher price tags.

“I haven’t seen a year like this since the 1980s,” said Hemin Saeed, a bicycle seller in Erbil. “The market is completely stopped. Everyone has no money. The people who come to buy, their money is all small notes — it’s clear it’s taken from children’s savings boxes. That’s because of what’s happened to the salaries, and without solving that, everyone is going through very difficult financial conditions.”

Employees in the Kurdistan Region have yet to receive their May salaries, even as June is underway and the Eid holiday begins Friday. Tensions between Erbil and Baghdad escalated last week after Iraq’s federal finance ministry ordered a suspension of salary transfers to the Kurdistan Regional Government, citing unverified revenue data and alleged budget overspending—claims the KRG has denied.

Saeed said his family has worked in the bicycle business since 1983.

“My father opened this garage around 1983, and to this day we work in this field. In the past, Iraq used to manufacture bicycles, and my father would bring them from the south and sell them new here. They were called ‘Korean,’ and also the ‘Iraqi 24’ model — they were good,” he said. “Now, the new bicycles available come from China, and because of their low quality and features, we rely on used European bikes — ‘bicycle Langa.’”

Langa is a famous market in Erbil known for second hand goods.

He added that poor road infrastructure discourages long-term use.

“If there were special roads, the rate of bicycle use among people would reach 80 percent,” he said. “But without bike lanes, people stop using them after a while.”

Saeed said safety is a major concern for cyclists in the city.

“One of my friends said, ‘I was nearly in a deadly traffic accident.’ Another complains about having to wait long to cross the streets. My father, for example, has been using a bicycle to get around for about 65 years, and so far he’s had five or six traffic accidents.”