[sustran] Re: [World Streets] Honk! Battered Bicycles in Paris

[jane.]

The Land of the Rising Sun? If you mean Japan, I don't know what systems they're using there, but in China, bicycle theft is rampant. Vandalism to bicycles, if it exists, would more likely than not be owner-inflicted, in the hopes of deterring thieves. Personally, I buy a bike every few months because I simply seem unable to hang onto them. But, inexpensive bikes can be bought for about US$15 to $50 new, and when they're sold "secondhand," i.e., stolen, their value doesn't diminish much. There are underground "secondhand bike market" districts that everybody knows of; police come along every so often to do a raid, but generally business is conducted as usual.

There is no lock, or even set of locks, that can deter a determined thief, and at any rate, most of the locks sold here are cheap and easy to break, I suspect with the reasoning that nobody's going to spend a chunk of change on a lock that's going to be drilled or cut open anyway.

People who invest some money into a higher quality bike here generally do not let it out of their sight, which involves sometimes carrying it up seven or eight flights of stairs. 

But at most major shopping centers, parks, or other public places where people might wish to park their bicycles, there will be a bicycle parking lot that is watched over by a guard. Generally you pay between 2 and 5 mao (the equivalent of a few U.S. cents). The vigilance (or loyalties--some are in cahoots with bike thieves) of these guards is not consistent across the board, and sometimes bikes are stolen even from these designated parking areas. But generally, especially if they're at a supermarket or something similar, they're safe. Carrefour, for instance, provides a guarantee that shoppers' bikes won't be stolen while their guard is on duty, or the supermarket will pay a percentage of the cost of the bike to the owner (how the owner is expected to prove that is another question entirely).

But generally, bicycle theft, like pickpocketing, is an accepted part of life here. Many deliberately ride the oldest, ugliest bicycles they can find to avoid the issue.

Jane

--- On Tue, 6/2/09, Ian Perry <ianenvironmental at googlemail.com> wrote:

From: Ian Perry <ianenvironmental at googlemail.com>
Subject: [sustran] Re: [World Streets] Honk! Battered Bicycles in Paris
To: sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org
Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 8:17 PM

Hi Todd,

What goes through the minds of the individuals who vandalise bicycles is very little...  Vandalism of bicycles is not limited to bike-sharing, but to private bicycles too.  Some see great entertainment value in vandalising bicyles here in the Netherlands, particularly late at night on their way home from a bar.  I doubt very much that the car lobby or taxi drivers are behind the vandalism in Paris.


The Dutch police do very little to prevent bicycle crime and will only register a theft, I'm told, if you can present the original two keys for your cut bicycle lock.  It's not only the poor who steal and vandalise, but the privileged too, sometimes seeking retribution for a bicycle of theirs that was stolen, and so a cycle begins/continues.


What is the answer?  Perhaps we need to look east to the land of the rising sun.

Ian




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