A growing number of employees of retail shops have been cycling to work since the state government allowed the stores to remain open between noon and 3pm.

Most of the employees would usually travel by buses, autos or suburban trains to reach their workplace and return home. With public transport off the roads since the stricter Covid norms came into force on May 16, these employees have no option but to cycle to work.

On Wednesday, cyclists were spotted on almost all major thoroughfares of the city. While the destination for most was the central business district, others were headed for Bangur, Lake Town, College Street, Vivekananda Road and BB Ganguly Street.

“I couldn’t make it to our shop, on Bidhan Sarani, on Tuesday as no means of transport was available. I decided to cycle to work today,” said Arindam Das, a resident of Ghola in North 24-Parganas, around 17km from the heart of Calcutta.

The father of two works in a sari shop. “Wedding season is round the corner…. If cycling for two-and-a-half hours fetches me some money, what’s the harm?” Das asked.

The rules that came into force on May 16 allowed sari shops to remain open from noon to 3pm. But there were hardly any customers.

Owners hope the footfall would improve as many other shops, too, are now allowed to open during the window.

Traffic cops said there was a significant rise in the number of motorists and cyclists on thoroughfares across the city on Wednesday. People cycled down from as far as Baruipur and Sonarpur in the south and Titagarh and Khardah in the north to reach their place of work.

“Some of the cyclists carried a copy of a challan or cash receipt of their stores, with their names, addresses and telephone numbers written on them, as proof of their employment,” said a police officer. “We asked them to avoid the main thoroughfares as much as possible during office hours.”