[sustran] Re: Guangzhou bans electric bicycles

jmcusset at freesurf.fr jmcusset at freesurf.fr
Fri Nov 24 01:31:58 JST 2006


I agree entirely  with Carlos. It seems crazy to ban electric bicycle in
this city.
At the time of global warming, this transport would to be encouraged in
Asian cities where the market is huge.
I hope Vietnamese authorities will not follow these China transport
measures as far as air pollution is more and more high in Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh City.

Dr Jean Michel CUSSET
Senior Eonomist Researcher,
Laobratoire d'Economie des Transports, Lyon, France

 The basic problem in China is the fact that automobile production has
> been given a top priority and the government wants to do anything but
> reduce the ownership of cars. Though Qiu Boaxing stated that “the
> country must retain its title as the kingdom of bicycles”, this
> statement is still not in practice. We’re starting to do training
> courses on sustainable transport and hope to have some impact there,
> but there’s a long way to go.
>
> And then electric bicycles: they’re wonderful, from my point of view.
> Not so fast, very very little noise, and little space requirements
> (also, in China, pretty cheap). But if users “improve” them by
> increasing the speed of the vehicle and start running into people, they
> won’t have much time left in the city. Another issue is that, though
> they’re electric, electricity is still coal generated
 so the vehicle
> itself isn’t polluting, but the source of its power IS.
>
>
> Carlos F. Pardo
> Coordinador de Proyecto
> GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC)
> Cl 126 # 52A-28 of 404
> Bogotá D.C., Colombia
> Tel:  +57 (1) 215 7812
> Mobile: +57 (3) 15 296 0662
> e-mail: carlos.pardo at sutp.org
> Página: www.sutp.org
>
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: sustran-discuss-bounces+carlos.pardo=sutp.org at list.jca.apc.org
> [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+carlos.pardo=sutp.org at list.jca.apc.org]
> En nombre de Lloyd Wright
> Enviado el: Miércoles, 22 de Noviembre de 2006 08:40 a.m.
> Para: Sustran-discuss at jca.apc.org
> Asunto: [sustran] Guangzhou bans electric bicycles
>
> http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/39099/story.htm
>
> China's Easy Riders Deride Electric Bike Ban
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> CHINA: November 22, 2006
>
> BEIJING - A ban on battery-powered bicycles in the southern China city
> of Guangzhou has left tens of thousands of owners grounded without
> compensation and angered vendors who face lost business, local media
> reported on Tuesday.
>
>
> The ban, effective a day after police announced it last week but
> allowing a "15-day education period", was aimed at preventing
> electric-powered bikes from
> becoming "the main mode of transport", Xinhua reported. "If such bikes
> are permitted, this will certainly rapidly increase the burden on
> roads," Xinhua quoted police as saying.
>
> Guangzhou, a booming Pearl River Delta city of about 10 million often
> choked with traffic jams, was China's fifth-fastest growing car market
> in the first half of 2006, state media has reported.
>
> The city has about 870,000 cars, Xinhua reported last week, growing at
> about 150,000 every year. Police also cited safety concerns and the
> inability to effectively enforce traffic regulations on electric-bike
> riders.
>
> "These riders have never received any special riding training or tests,
> so their driving skills are very difficult to guarantee."
>
> Police added that compensation would not be given to bike owners as
> they had been urged "through the media" not to buy bikes and in any
> case, the Guangzhou
> government had "never permitted" them.
>
> At least 100,000 residents ride electric bikes every day in Guangzhou,
> which at 1,000-3,000 yuan (US$125-US$380) are a cheap and increasingly
> popular form
> of transport in Chinese cities.
>
> But several local governments have banned the bikes which require no
> licence and are exempt from registration fees.
>
> Beijing has confined electric bikes to its outer suburbs, although
> riders regularly flout the regulation.
>
> Over 100 electric bike manufacturers, vendors and riders held a rally
> in a Guangzhou hotel to protest the ban, the Yangcheng Evening News, a
> Guangzhou daily, reported.
>
> "Allow the orderly and healthy development of electric bicycles and
> don't simply kill them off!" the paper quoted protesters as saying.
>
> The group issued a joint communique, saying the authorities "had not
> fully consulted the will of the people".
>
> Construction Ministry Vice Minister Qiu Baoxing earlier this year
> slammed city
> planners for pandering to private car owners and ignoring the needs of
> ordinary pedal cyclists, saying China should remain the "kingdom of
> bicycles".
>
>
> Qiu lamented that some Chinese cities were cutting back on bicycle
> lanes in order to make more room for cars, even as some Western cities
> were building more lanes for cyclists.
>
> REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
>
>
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