Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Cycling and walking
For many decades, transport in Chinese cities was dominated by bicycles, with extensive cycle
paths and cycle parking provision. The mode share for cycling was typically higher than
anywhere else in the world, with cycling and walking trips accounting for over 90 per cent
of total trips in some of the major cities. Cities tended to be dense at the centre, facilitating
movement by cycling and walking. (Hook and Replogle, 1996).With minimal public investment
in roads and public transport, the mass transport option in Chinese cities became the bicycle.
Bicycles were affordable and, until recently, subsidised by employers. Low average incomes
meant that ownership of a motorcycle or car was out of reach for the vast majority of people.
One-third of road space was typically reserved for cycles and one-third for pedestrians. Before
the economic reforms, owning a bicycle in China was a privileged position. Bicycles were
rationed to favoured employees, and only one person in four or five had a bicycle. The vast
majority of the rest of the population, except very high-level Party officials and foreigners,
travelled by public transport. The bicycle was hence seen as a high-status consumer good,
helping to avoid use of the crowded buses. In the 1980s and 1990s the use of the bicycle
grew rapidly with a more ubiquitous usage. In major cities bicycle congestion and chaotic
bicycle parking became problematic. In the 1990s in Beijing more than 50 per cent of people
commuted to their jobs by bicycle, with 70 per cent in Tianjin and 40 per cent in Shanghai
(Hook and Replogle, 1996). More recently, the bicycle was often been perceived as an outdated
mode, and usage not encouraged to the same extent as private motorisation, with some active
discouragement. Many cycle lanes and pedestrian facilities have been narrowed or removed
to accommodate the car.
Cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin have been the most progressive in terms of encouraging
cycling, and most of the major cities now have extensive cycle hire schemes, developed as
larger scale versions of the Paris Vélib' system (launched in 2007) and pioneering La Rochelle
system (developed in the 1970s). Cycle rickshaws, with two- and three-wheeler variants, are
also popular in Chinese cities. As fuel was rationed primarily to state enterprises at highly
subsidised prices, light goods vehicles were expensive, hence the tri-shaw became the mode
of choice for small businesses, particularly for suburban farmers selling produce. The flatbed
of the tri-shaw also served as housing for some of the estimated 50 million 'floating' population,
the most recent rural migrants to urban areas (Hook and Replogle, 1996).
Under Scenario 4, Jinan is planned to aggressively support the use of cycling and walking,
with an assumed large increase in distance travelled by non-motorised modes (+270 per cent
on 2010 levels by 2030). To achieve this level of increase necessitates a large investment in
infrastructure, including a dense network of dedicated cycle lanes, developing some of the
existing routes. There can also be further cycle parking provision, cycle hire, pedestrianisation
in retail districts, and a much improved public realm. The Netherlands can be used as a model
for further cycle provision; whilst some of the public realm design found in the centre of Jinan
is of high quality, and can be extended across the city where there is expected to be a high
level of pedestrians and social interaction. These types of facilities can be provided at a fraction
of the cost of highway investment. A compact, polycentric urban form can support the use of
cycling and walking. Safeguarding the existing space for cyclists and monitoring the use of
bike lanes are important to encourage the public to use bicycles. Such actions avoid the vicious
circle of cycle mode share decline, with some cities such as Beijing opting to use bicycle
space for vehicle lanes and parking space, and then having to reallocate space for cyclists to
encourage cycling again.
Further complementary policy measures aimed at reducing the growth in motorised travel
and CO2 emissions can include the development of flexible working and lifestyles (working
