[sustran] China orders cities to restore bicycle lanes lost to car boom

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China orders cities to restore bicycle lanes lost to car boom 

 
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Written by AP    


Thursday, 15 June 2006 


BEIJING (AP) _ Chinese cities that destroyed bike lanes to widen roads
for cars or new buildings are being ordered to put the pathways back,
the government said Thursday amid efforts to battle the choking smog and
traffic brought on by booming car use. 

china bicycle.jpg

A lone Chinese cyclist faces a traffic dominated by automobiles in
Beijing, China, Thursday, June 15, 2006. Chinese cities that destroyed
bike lanes to widen roads for cars or new buildings are being ordered to
put the pathways back, the government said Thursday amid efforts to
battle the choking smog and traffic brought on by booming car use. Qiu
Baoxing, a vice minister with the Ministry of Construction said it was
important that China retain its title "kingdom of bicycles," according
to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 

Qiu Baoxing, a vice minister with the Ministry of Construction said it
was important that China retain its title ``kingdom of bicycles,''
according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency. 

Qiu told an urban planning conference in Beijing on Wednesday that the
ministry was firmly opposed to the elimination of bicycle lanes and has
ordered cities to restore them, Xinhua said. 

The report estimated that China had 500 million bicycles in the late
1980s and said that the number had fallen dramatically as car ownership
had expanded, but gave no specific figure. 

The report cited Qiu as saying that the number of motor vehicles on
China's roads in 2004 was 20 times that of 1978, with that number
expected to increase as much as five fold by 2020. In 2004 there were 27
million motor vehicles in China and that number could reach 130 million
in 15 years, he said. 

Qiu's numbers appeared to include all motorized vehicles, including
trucks, tractors and motorcycles, in addition to cars. The World Bank
said in a report Wednesday that China had 16 million registered cars in
2004. 

China's rapid expansion of car use has brought the country severe
pollution, snarled traffic and frequent deadly road accidents. The
leadership says that cleaning up the environment and saving energy is
among the top priorities for the next five years. 

On Tuesday, the government ordered civil servants to leave their cars at
home and ride bikes or take public transport in a bid to reduce the
choking smog that covers many Chinese cities and conserve energy. 

 

 

 

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