Chinese commuters told: get off your bikes

A few years ago, Beijing was probably the most bicycle-friendly capital on Earth. A flat, dry city with broad, tree-lined cycle lanes patrolled by protective traffic wardens was perfect for two wheels. The streets teemed with so many bicycles that they became as much a symbol of China as the giant panda.

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But now they are under threat as their habitat – the city’s network of bicycle lanes – shrinks, and predators – in the form of cars – increase at the rate of 20,000 a month.

It is as though China’s economic and urban planners have a new mantra: four wheels rich, two wheels poor.
t is not deliberate. Bicycles just don’t matter as they used to. Thirty years ago, Beijingers considered themselves affluent if they owned a bike, a radio and a sewing machine. The equivalent today is a car, a TV and a computer. Last November, the city dropped registration requirements for bicycles. A few months earlier, the annual four yuan (25p) bike tax was abolished.

There is no risk of extinction. Estimates of the number of bicycles in the city range from 4 million to 10 million. But transport analysts say the average Beijinger travels 60% less by bike than 10 years ago and those journeys are becoming dirtier and more dangerous.

guardian