[sustran] Re: Guangzhou bans electric bicycles

[Sunny]

Yes I would say Carlos idea is very nice but there is also a word of 
caution in his idea which I entirely agree. The electric bicycles are 
wonderful until they dont get fast or hit other people. I feel tht if 
this process is allowed then evolution of the electric bicycle into an 
electric Chinese version of a Harley Davidson would be inevitable.

But here is where we have to question ourselves does clean air and no 
noise is the end of our efforts for a sustainable transport? then why do 
some of us dont support electric cars? My answer for these questions 
would be No! electric vehicles will not help us achieve the goals of ST 
as the safety issue is still unresolved. They are economically lucrative 
but socially insecure.

And also I feel tht though automobile industry supports the economic 
growth of a country, often calculated with GDP, i dont this it is a 
socially beneficial industry as the technology increases less people are 
required for operation and hence it is not a job providing sector. 
Secondly, GDP as far as i know does not account for the poverty in a 
country so are countries with increasing GDP's are really developing 
(socially and environmentally)??? Please comment

Sunny

jmcusset at freesurf.fr wrote:
> 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