With motorbikes banned, delivery riders struggle in heatwave

A delivery man rides his bicycle during a heatwave in Yangon on April 29, 2024. Delivery riders pedal their bicycle through a punishing heatwave in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, where scooters and motorbikes are banned. (Photo by Sai Aung MAIN / AFP) / TO GO WITH "MYANMAR-HEAT-WEATHER"

DELIVERY rider Than Toe Aung pedals his bicycle through a punishing heatwave in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, where scooters and motorbikes are banned.

He can’t afford a car, and a previous junta outlawed two-wheeled motorised vehicles for “security reasons”, so the employee of the delivery app FoodPanda has no choice but to sweat his way through the streets under his own power.