Commuters get on their bikes in congested Beijing
Print Edition
WITH more than 20 million residents and 5.5 million cars, Beijing is teetering on the brink of gridlock, with roads becoming parking lots and subway trains feeling like sardine tins.
Riding to the rescue is an army of commuters on bicycles.
Beijing introduced a public bicycle system in June 2012 with 2,000 bikes in two districts. This year public bike stations are sprouting up everywhere downtown.
“Thanks to public bikes, I have escaped from the crowded buses and subways,” said Zhang Xin, 30. He takes a bike from Fengtai in the southwest part of the city most mornings and checks it back to a stance by his office in Xuanwumen 30 minutes later. Depending on how he feels at the end of the day, he can return home by the same means or take the subway.
Some 130,000 Beijingers have signed up for the service and there are now 25,000 public bikes scattered all over Beijing.
“Yesterday, more than 200 people called up to ask about the bikes and 130 registered for the scheme in Fengtai alone,” an official said. After paying a refundable deposit of 200 yuan (US$32), Beijingers can borrow the bikes free for the first hour and 1 yuan an hour thereafter. They can pick up a bike in one place and return it to any other depot.
The bikes have been rented almost 10 million times, an average of four times a day for each bike. According to officials, there will be 50,000 bikes on the streets by the end of 2015.
“Public bicycles make it easy to reach the subway or bus stations. They make it easier for people to choose public transport and leave their cars at home,” said Mao Baohua, executive director of the China Transportation Research Center at Beijing Jiaotong University.
Most Beijingers rely on public transport to get to work, but the journey is rarely much fun. “Commuters expect to walk the first or last kilometer, or both,” said Mao.
The time actually spent on buses and subways accounts for only 40 percent of the total journey time.
Topographically, Beijing is a very flat city and most roads have wide lanes at either side for bikes and motorcycles.
As early as 2005, Beijing introduced public bikes, but run by private companies.
During the 2008 Olympics there was a huge demand from tourists and visitors but the scheme collapsed due to a lack of government support and high charges.
“The service is much better now that the government is the major player,” said Wu Jun, one of the budding cyclists.
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