<http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1798536,00.html>http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1798536,00.html
China backs bikes to kick car habit
Jonathan Watts in Shanghai
Thursday June 15, 2006
Guardian
Having spent the past decade pursuing a transport policy of four wheels
rich, two wheels poor, the Chinese government has suddenly rediscovered
the environmental and health benefits of the bicycle.
The construction ministry announced on Thursday that any bike lanes that
have been narrowed or destroyed to make way for cars in recent years must
be returned to their original glory. This followed orders on Tuesday that
all civil servants should cycle to work or take public transport to reduce
the smog that chokes most city streets and urban lungs.
Qiu Baoxing, a vice-minister with the Ministry of Construction, said it
was important for China to retain its title as the "kingdom of bicycles,"
according to a report by the official Xinhua news agency.
The reputation was well deserved 25 years ago, when Beijing was famous for
its swarms of cyclists. But a quarter-century of breakneck industrial
development has utterly transformed the streets of almost every city.
China has become infatuated with the car, which is seen as a symbol of
success and modernity.
Qiu was quoted as saying that the number of vehicles on China's roads has
increased more than twenty-fold since 1978 to 27m. Within 15 years, he
predicted, it could rise to more than 130m - which still represents only
one car for every 10 people.
In Beijing alone, it is estimated that 1,000 new cars every day are added
to an already appalling traffic snarl-up. Until now, urban planners have
tried to make room for these economic engines by building thousands of
miles of multi-lane roads, often at the expense of bike lanes.
Estimates of the number of bicycles in the city range from 4m to 10m. 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.
The apparent shift of focus comes at the start of a new five-year economic
plan in which the government says its priority is to improve the
environment and conserve energy. Earlier this month, the World Bank issued
a new report calling on China to invest more in public transport rather
than focusing on the construction of new highways for cars.
But, as other countries have found out, having become addicted to the
economy to cars, it will not be easy for China to kick the motoring habit.
_______________________
my favorite part is: "the World Bank issued a new report calling on China
to invest more in public transport rather than focusing on the construction
of new highways for cars."
Gee, I wonder why the World Bank isn't telling the US the same thing?
my second favorite part is: "This followed orders on Tuesday that all civil
servants should cycle to work or take public transport to reduce the smog
that chokes most city streets and urban lungs."
hmmm...perhaps governments here should insist that a prerequisite for
having a civil service job is that the employee's mode to work be some form
of sustainable transport, instead of subsidizing driving with "free"
parking, among other things. Yes, I've heard the argument that it's
unAmerican to tell Americans how they can get around. on the other hand, if
GM workers aren't allowed to park anything but GM products on the factory
lot, then it seems reasonable for the city, state, and federal government
to require it's employees to travel to work in ways that benefit those
governments most (or negatively impact them the least).
chuck
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