Tag: China

Beijing Bike Share

Beijing to install 500 bike rental kiosks with 20,000 bikes to encourage bike use and ease traffic jams in the city. Beijing transportation officials say they’ll also install bike lanes, although residents say bike lanes are often used by cars.

More –> Xinhua: More rental bikes, subway lines to ease Beijing traffic congestion. Via Transportation Nation.

Jhong: Bicycle Culture Revolution

“Chinese Bike Culture” once meant millions of Chinese cruising wide bike boulevards on black and basic commuter bikes equipped with fenders, chaincases, heavy duty racks, and sturdy double kickstands. The bicycle was the preferred mode of urban transportation nationwide, with right of way at intersections and ample parking on wide sidewalks. These days, though, public space for bikes shrinks as prosperous Chinese abandon the poor peasant’s pedalcycle in favor of the rich man’s car at a rate of more than on million new cars and SUVs each month.

Some Chinese have gone upscale with their bikes by buying multispeed mountain and road models. Another cadre of Chinese youth take their bike culture cues, perhaps a little ironically, from American urban centers by adopting fixed gear bike style as their own. (more…)