China focus: Chinese city gets back on its bike

• Source: Xinhua
• [14:07 May 01 2009]
• Comments

To make Li even happier, she did not buy the bicycle herself. The bicycle, orange red and fine looking, comes from a public bicycle service company funded by the local government. Li could use it for free as her use of the bicycle was far shorter than the one-hour preferential time limit.

On May 1, 2008, the Hangzhou Municipal Government began the public bicycle service program, with 2,800 bicycles at 61 service outlets across downtown areas. Since then, new bicycles and outlets have grown in number.

Li could easily find a bicycle at a public bicycle service outlet at her residential quarter. She takes a bicycle by brushing her Hangzhou citizen card at a Point of Sells (POS) machine at the outlet. She returns the bicycle at another outlet near her office.

China used to be a kingdom of bicycles. Today it sees far fewer bicycles in metropolises, as affluent Chinese city dwellers have become fond of buying and driving cars to offices. With a 1.3 billion population, China had about 650 million bicycles, including 80 million electric-driven bicycles, while it had 65 million motor vehicles at the end of 2008, according to China Bicycle Association.

In addition to convenience, cars are taken by many as a symbol of wealth. In some cities, bicycle lanes are simply abolished in many quarters, leaving rooms for cars.

But over the past year, public bicycles have become the most convenient traffic tools for many Hangzhou residents like Li. Public bicycles are also loved by tourists for short-distance trips.

    

THE SCHEME

As the first of its kind in the country, the public bicycle leasing service program was introduced to Hangzhou a year ago to make bicycles a component of the city's public traffic mix. As a means to solve the "final-kilometer puzzle" (you get on or off public transport close to your destination but have not yet completed the journey), public bicycles help realize a "seamless connection of bicycle-based slow-speed traffic with metro and bus-based public traffic facilities", said Huang Zhiyao, general manager of Hangzhou Public Transport Corporation (HPTC).

"As well, bicycles will aid green transport and reduce environment pollution in our city," said Huang.

Under the scheme, residents, from 16 to 70 years old, may hire and return public bicycles with their Hangzhou public transport IC cards or Hangzhou citizen cards at all service outlets.

Tourists from other areas may apply for service cards at service outlets with their identity cards and 300 yuan (44 U.S. dollars) deposit.

Under the provisions, public bicycles are used for free in the first hour, a period long enough to ride a bicycle around the West Lake. Users are charged one yuan from the second hour to the third hour, two yuan from the third hour to the fourth hour, and three yuan from the fourth hour to the 24th hour.

Tourists from other areas are the first group of people to benefit from the scheme, as bicycles offer them an exciting and convenient means to tour the West Lake and other areas.

"I have traveled to Hangzhou with my family several times before. It was really a headache to find a seat in parking lots in scenic areas. But renting a bicycle has no such problems. We can go wherever we want," said Liu Zhuo, a traveler from Shanghai.

Cao Jing, a woman in her 20s from Beijing, who has been to Paris and Prague, said "I love Hangzhou, it felt like meeting an old friend on my first visit here. The city has the quietness and elegance of European cities. Riding a bicycle along willow-lined lakes enables me to enjoy the charms of the city.

"The West Lake area has wonderful roads. It reserves a lane for bicycles. It sets barrier-free channels in every place, making it a pleasant experience to tour the lake with a bicycle."