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1、THE (D)EVOLUTION OF BICYCLING AND BIKE SHARE IN CHINA AND BEIJINGPosted by Winnie Fong / November 19, 2013After twenty years of booming car ownership, much of China is now experiencing a resurgence of the bicycle. But despite suffering considerably because of automobile use, Beijings bike culture an
2、d bike share system are struggling. What factors are to blame?Beijing embodying the Kingdom of Bicycles in the 1980sOnce referred to as the “Kingdom of Bicycles,” China recently experienced a steep decline in its bicycle use. As economic growth and per capita income increased at staggering rates, so
3、 did private car ownership at the expense of the bicycle. From 1995 to 2005, the countrys bike fleet decreased by 35%, going from 670 million to 435 million. Concurrently, private car ownership skyrocketed as the country continues to westernize, going from 285,000 in 1985 to 18.5 million in 2005a tr
4、end that has recently gained speed.To accommodate the ever-multiplying private automobile, many of Chinas biggest cities implemented serious measures. In 2004, Shanghai banned cyclists from a few downtown roads and other cities closed some bike lanes in a ill-advised attempt to avoid collisions and
5、reduce congestion. Unsurprisingly, these attempts to cater to the automobile have had dire effects.Air pollution has been dramatically exacerbated by mass automobile use, leading to shortened life spans, according to studies, and in some cases causing cities to shut down. And increased congestion ha
6、s negatively impacted economic productivity through increasing the amount of time spent in traffic. 11-day traffic jam, anyone?Now, Chinese cities are having to back-pedal from the latest automobile craze. And many cities are turning to bike share to help solve their automobile-induced quandary (see
7、 video below), which has led to China now being home to 79 of the worlds bike share programs, including the two largest systems in the world, Hangzhou and Wuhan.Beijing is one of those cities in a desperate back-pedal after suffering from severe air pollution over the last decade. Prior to the 2008
8、Olympics, in attempt to clear the air before showcasing the city to the world, Beijing instituted a policy that restricted cars from being on the road based on license plate number. And the city recently reinstated a similar license plate measure that would be in effect on high-pollution days.Beijin
9、g has also deferred to public transportation in an effort to help loosen up the automotive gridlock by rapidly expanding its subway system, which is already one of the largest transit network in the world with a ridership of 8 million passengers per day. And joining its counterparts in Hangzhou and
10、elsewhere, Beijing implemented a bike share program to help bring the bicycle back to the nations capital.But unlike its counterparts, which are seeing relatively high ridership rates, Beijings program is floundering. In attempt to jump-start usage of the system to address the growing issues of cong
11、estion and air pollution, Beijing now has plans to nearly double its number of bikes to 25,000 by the end of 2013. But will that be enough to get Beijingers to use bike share?Bike shares troubled beginnings and future growth in BeijingAfter giving up on the citys first bike share program in 2008, Be
12、ijing gave bike share a second chance in 2012. In an effort to boost the number of cyclists on the road by 25%, the Beijing municipal government funded and launched the system in Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts with 2,000 bicycles and 63 stations. As of May 2013, the program expanded to 14,000 bicy
13、cles and 520 stations, and plans to have 50,000 bicycles and 1,000 stations by 2015.Beijing Bike Share sitting idly and unused (2013)A little over a year after the programs launch, many of its bicycles sit idly and unused at the stations. In one year since its inception, Beijings bike share recorded
14、 approximately 1.7 million rentals which averages out to less than one rental a day per bike. Thats about one-fourth the amount of trips that each bike in Hangzhou sees per day (3.8). And in Wuhan, currently the largest bike share system in the world, its 90,000 bikes are rented at least twice a day
15、 with 180,000 trips made per day. Why arent Beijingers using Bike Share?In a country that has the bicycle deeply embedded into its recent history and one that is currently seeing a resurgence of the bicycle, why arent Beijingers using bike share? Some suggest that because of a almost non-existent bi
16、ke culture in Beijing, the local government had little incentive or push to plan a quality bike share system.Bike CultureThe bicycle mode share in Beijing declined from 62% in 1986 to 16% in 2010, while automobile growth is increasing about 15%-20% each year. Along with this modal shift, the perception of bicycles has also shifted, exacerbating the issue. The bicycle was once the social status symbol of China. Now, it has been replaced by the car as the new status symbol because
