Beijing to Ban Electric Bikes on 10 Major Streets, Including Chang'an Jie

Steven Schwankert | Apr 6, 2016 8:30 am | 12 comments | 6649 reads

Electric bikes are about to bear the blame for a significant number of traffic accidents, as Beijing’s Public Security Bureau (PSB) will ban the popular and economical means of transport from Chang’an Jie and nine other major Beijing streets, beginning April 11, China state media reported.

The streets affected are Chang’an Jie (from Jianguomen to Fuxingmen); Guangchang Dongce Lu and Guangchange Xice Lu (the two streets on either side of Tiananmen Square); Fuyou Jie (just west of the Forbidden City); Zhengyi Lu; Fuxingmenwai Dajie (from Fuxingmen to Muxidi Qiao); Jiaenguomenwai Dajie (from Jianguomen to Guomao Qiao); Fuxing Lu (from Muxidi Qiao to Xinxing Qiao); Puhuangyu Lu (from Yuting Qiao to Liujiayao Qiao); and Shijingshan Lu (between Yuquan Lu junction and Lugu Dongjie North).

As such, most of Chaoyang District remains unaffected, although cross-city commuters may need to find a more northern thoroughfare to use.

The ban specifically targets “two-wheeled electric bikes” (电动二轮车), which, according to Beijing PSB’s Traffic Management Department, were involved in over 31,000 accidents in 2015, resulting in 113 fatalities and over 21,000 injuries. They accounted for 36.7 percent of all traffic injuries in Beijing last year.

Beijing will roll-out the plan after a similar scheme in Shenzhen was declared successful in reducing traffic congestion and related injuries. Violators face fines of RMB 20 per infraction, and confiscation of the vehicle if they refuse to pay.

More stories by this author here.

Email: stevenschwankert@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: News.cn, MyDrivers.com

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Mezza's picture Mezza Submitted by Guest on Wed, 04/27/2016 - 23:08

schreursm wrote:
Mezza wrote:
Was this policy an April fool's joke or something? I walk along 建国门外 every day to and from work and see literally hundreds of electric scooters riding along it. Or maybe it is like most other laws and only gets enforced once a year when a superior needs to save face?

I've also been wondering this, have you noticed an increase in traffic police presence there?

Nope, not all. Never see any unless they are shutting down a few lanes to let a comrade convoy speed through.

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schreursm's picture schreursm Submitted by Guest on Wed, 04/27/2016 - 10:49

Mezza wrote:
Was this policy an April fool's joke or something? I walk along 建国门外 every day to and from work and see literally hundreds of electric scooters riding along it. Or maybe it is like most other laws and only gets enforced once a year when a superior needs to save face?

I've also been wondering this, have you noticed an increase in traffic police presence there?

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Mezza's picture Mezza Submitted by Guest on Tue, 04/26/2016 - 20:57

Was this policy an April fool's joke or something? I walk along 建国门外 every day to and from work and see literally hundreds of electric scooters riding along it. Or maybe it is like most other laws and only gets enforced once a year when a superior needs to save face?

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 12:24

Beijing Horror Films wrote:

Maybe the story from TB was bs but my point still stands, the City could have a fleet of tow trucks going around Beijing and towing illegally parked cars to an impound yard. Imagine the revenue they would collect.

Agreed

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Fri, 04/08/2016 - 10:15

^ maybe there's more fires where you are. I'm not a frequent visitor to asian games village, but I've lived in Beijing for nearly 16 years and can count the number of times I've seen a fire truck in this town on one hand. 

I agree with you that parked cars will block fire engines. My point is that its unlikely the reason why the fire truck was not able to save these people

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Thu, 04/07/2016 - 11:46

Beijing Horror Films wrote:

This from from 2 weeks ago

I would have had every car towed to an impound yard outside the City and had them pay a 1000 yuan to get them back

That story was utter horseshit propaganda parroted by the idiots at that's beijing who have no bullshit filter.

There's no way that a Chinese fire engine in Beijing ever makes it anywhere near a burning building to be able to pinpoint their inability to rescue the occupants inside due to nearby parked cars.

That's because the streets are filled with drivers who would rather have their testicles chewed off by a rabid dog than yield to an emergency vehicle (because yielding is for suckers and poor people. To yield is to lose face). 

Let's not forget as well that most residential complexes are walled off and manned by idiots at the gates.

Our office has been located next to a fire station for over two years. you wanna know how many times a fire engine has roared out of the station, sirens blaring, on their way to a blaze?

Zero. 

And we're downtown in a city of 20 million.

 

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PatrickLi's picture PatrickLi Submitted by Guest on Thu, 04/07/2016 - 02:58

I heard that Beijing now has difficulty in recruiting police officers. The minimum requirement used to be college graduates but now they are thinking about lowering it to "some college". 

Law enforcement is a real problem in Beijing. Laws and rules mean nothing if they are not enforced. If one day Beijing police starts to patrol on the street regularly to stop drivers from taking emergency lanes, using bike paths and driving like assholes, if one day they start to ticket illegal parking half as quick as NYPD does, if one day they start to patrol on the street and fine motorized bike moving on pedestrian lanes, the city will be much better, and many other problems will get solved as well. 

My suggestion is to start with illegal parking. Many cars are parked illegally in bike lanes, which then leads bikes to use the pedestrain lane. This should be very easy to deal with. I can single handedly ticket at least 100 illegally parked cars in Beijing anyday. This really doesn't involve any mental work because cars in Beijing are parked illegally in such obvious ways, and all you need to do is to put a piece of paper on the vehicle. 

Wheel boots and towing cars will definitely help, but I've never seen them in Beijing. I have seen cars blocking the way for ages but the police doesn't even bother to tow it. I have also seen many abandoned cars literally perished on the street---they were there when I was in third grade, and they were still there when I graduated high school.

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