bikeshare：bike sharing in china.docx

THE (D)EVOLUTION OF BICYCLING AND BIKE SHARE IN CHINA AND BEIJING Posted byWinnie Fong/November 19, 2013After twenty years of booming car ownership, much of China is now experiencing a resurgence of the bicycle. But despite suffering considerably because of automobile use, Beijings bike culture and bike share system are struggling. What factors are to blame?Beijing embodying the Kingdom of Bicycles in the 1980sOnce referred to as the “Kingdom of Bicycles,” China recently experienced a steep decline in its bicycle use. As economic growth and per capita income increased at staggering rates, so did private car ownership at the expense of the bicycle. From 1995 to 2005, the countrysbike fleet decreased by 35%, going from670 million to 435 million. Concurrently, private car ownership skyrocketed as the country continues to westernize, going from285,000 in 1985 to 18.5 million in 2005a trendthat has recently gained speed.To accommodate the ever-multiplying private automobile, many of Chinas biggest cities implemented serious measures. In 2004, Shanghaibanned cyclists from a few downtown roadsand other cities closed some bike lanesin a ill-advised attempt to avoid collisions and reduce congestion. Unsurprisingly, these attempts to cater to the automobile have had dire effects.Air pollution has been dramatically exacerbated by mass automobile use, leading toshortened life spans, according to studies,and in some cases causingcities to shut down. And increased congestion has negatively impacted economic productivity through increasing the amount of time spent in traffic.11-day traffic jam, anyone?Now, Chinese cities are having toback-pedal from the latest automobile craze. And many cities are turning to bike share to help solve their automobile-induced quandary (see video below), which has led to China now being home to 79 of the worlds bike share programs, including the two largest systems in the world, Hangzhou and Wuhan.Beijing is one of those cities in a desperate back-pedal after suffering from severe air pollution over the last decade. Prior to the 2008 Olympics,in attempt to clear the air before showcasing the city to the world, Beijing instituted a policy that restricted cars from being on the road based on license plate number. And the city recently reinstated a similarlicense platemeasurethat would be in effect on high-pollution days.Beijing has also deferred to public transportation in an effort to help loosen up the automotive gridlock by rapidly expanding its subway system, which is already one of thelargest transit network in the worldwith aridership of 8 million passengers per day. And joining its counterparts in Hangzhou and elsewhere, Beijing implemented a bike share program to help bring the bicycle back to the nations capital.But unlike its counterparts, which are seeing relatively high ridership rates, Beijings program is floundering. In attempt to jump-start usage of the system to address the growing issues of congestion and air pollution, Beijing now has plans to nearlydouble its number of bikes to 25,000by the end of 2013. But will that be enough to get Beijingers to use bike share?Bike shares troubled beginnings and future growth in BeijingAftergiving up on the citys first bike share programin 2008, Beijing gave bike share a second chance in 2012. In an effort toboost the number of cyclistson the road by 25%, the Beijing municipal government funded and launched the system in Dongcheng and Chaoyang districts with 2,000 bicycles and 63 stations. As of May 2013, the program expanded to 14,000 bicycles and 520 stations, and plans to have 50,000 bicycles and 1,000 stationsby 2015.Beijing Bike Share sitting idly and unused (2013)A little over a year after the programs launch, many of its bicycles sit idly and unused at the stations. In one year since its inception, Beijings bike share recorded approximately1.7 million rentalswhich averages out to less than one rental a day per bike. Thats about one-fourth the amount of trips that each bike in Hangzhou sees per day (3.8).And inWuhan, currently the largest bike share system in the world, its90,000 bikesare rented at least twice a day with180,000 trips made per day.Why arent Beijingers using Bike Share?In a country that has the bicycle deeply embedded into its recent history and one that is currently seeing a resurgence of the bicycle,why arent Beijingers using bike share? Some suggest that because of a almost non-existent bike culture in Beijing, the local government had little incentive or push to plan a quality bike share system.Bike CultureThe bicycle mode share in Beijing declined from62% in 1986 to 16% in 2010,while automobile growth is increasing about 15%-20% each year. Along with this modal shift, the perception of bicycles has also shifted, exacerbating the issue. The bicycle was once the social status symbol of China. Now, it has been replaced by thecar as the new status symbolbecause owning a car represents success and an upgrade to the middle-class. People in Beijing generally perceive the bicycle as outdated, and refer it as the main mode of transport for the poor. In an article published in Time, a Chinese woman even stated that she would “rathercryin a BMW car than laugh on thebackseatof abicycle.”Beijing Bicycle advocate Shannon Bufton (2013)Planning the SystemAccording to some, Beijings current bike sharing system waspoorly designed and implemented. In an interview withShannon Bufton, bicycle mobility expert and founder of Smarter than Carbasedin Beijing, he said the government failed to plan the location of the bike stations strategically. Bufton recommends that placing the bike share stations near thehutongsnarrow alleys where it is more conducive to bicyclingcould help boost the number of bike share users.As the city continues to modernize, people are living further away from their worka common reason why most of my Beijing friends do not commute by bike. By focusing the system within the3rd ring roadan area that encapsulates the urban core more holisticallyit will make it easier for Beijingers to navigate throughout the city by bike.Bicycle infrastructure in Haidian District in Beijing (2013)And Beijing can undoubtedly learn from its fellow Chinese cities. In Hangzhou, for instance, bike share is integrated with all modes of transportation with a higher density of bike share stations. Other factors such as the development of bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure have also led to the resurgence of the bicycle in Hangzhou. Meanwhile, Beijing is playing catch-up as it works on its implementation ofdesignated bike lanes in historic centers, arteries, and central business districtsby 2015. And, with Beijings strong negative sentiment surrounding bicycling, it is unclear whether or not new infrastructure coupled with the growth of the bike share system will be enough to increase the systems use.Whats next for Beijings Bike Share?Bufton mentions that even though utility cycling has gone down,recreational cyclinghas proven to be quite popular these days among the Chinese, as shown in the video below. He remains hopeful and sees that the culture is slowly shifting in favor of bicycles yet again. By positioning the bicycle in a way that does not associate it with being poor, and instead as a“hip”