Bicycle Lanes Become "Dead End" Roads
On June 14, Vice Minister of Construction Qiu Baoxing spoke at the first China Urban Development and Planning Annual Conference, firmly opposing the restriction of bicycle lanes and ordering some cities to restore the canceled bicycle lanes.
It is understood that while some cities in China were canceling bicycle lanes, some foreign cities that originally lacked bicycle lanes were increasingly focusing on their construction, even proposing the concept of building "walkable cities."
As a central inland city with a large number of bicycles, how are the "survival" conditions of bicycle lanes in Zhengzhou?
Common Violations by Cyclists
In Zhengzhou, violations by pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles are very common, leading to frequent traffic accidents.
On the morning of March 23, a group of elementary school students filmed violations at the intersection of Tongbai Road and Huaihe Road using DCs and DVs. In just 10 minutes, the children discovered 46 bicycles, 40 pedestrians, 15 electric scooters and motorcycles, and 16 cars violating traffic rules.
On April 17, the Third Traffic Patrol Brigade conducted a special concentrated governance. Within an hour, the police caught 102 illegally operating non-motorized vehicles, of which 101 were electric bikes and only one was a pedal bike.
Traffic accidents caused by bicycle violations occur frequently in Zhengzhou. According to statistics from the Third Traffic Patrol Brigade of Zhengzhou, there were five non-motorized vehicle accidents in the fast lane of the Zhongyuan Road tunnel in the first 15 days of April alone.
Recently, Zhengzhou began implementing a new regulation: violators will be reported to their workplace. The government hopes this administrative measure will curb the widespread phenomenon of traffic violations.
Bicycle Lanes Often "Blocked" or "Dead Ends"
A Zhengzhou resident said: "People always say bicycles violate traffic rules, but why do bicycle lanes lack humanistic care? Dead-end roads, marble roads, and many sections where cyclists have to mix with pedestrians... Aren't these factors causing bicycles to often violate traffic rules by encroaching on other lanes? If bicycle lanes were smooth and unobstructed, would bicycles willingly go onto the fast lane to collide like eggs against stones?"
Near the municipal stadium on Renmin Road, a prominent sign indicates the side of the main road as the non-motorized vehicle lane. However, it is already blocked tightly by pedestrians and parked vehicles. Cyclists cannot continue forward here; some get off their bikes and push them through the crowd, while others turn onto the motor vehicle lane.
The road towards Zhongyuan Road for cyclists is also not smooth. After circling around the Erqi Tower, at the Liberation Road section, cyclists are forced onto a bumpy, narrow sidewalk. After making a circle, they must cross a busy intersection frequented by motor vehicles, needing to wait for the traffic warden's signal before passing.
Non-motorized vehicle lanes on Shunhe Road often have parked bicycles or motor vehicles, making it impossible for cyclists to pass.
Even on some main roads in Zhengzhou, bicycle lanes are occasionally occupied or rerouted. Near the Dashi Bridge on Jinshui Road, some bicycle lanes have been moved to stone steps, with uneven surfaces, varying between good and bad conditions.
On some bicycle lanes, missing manhole covers form "traps," or power poles and wires block the way, becoming "trip hazards." Uneven roads are everywhere.
Improper parking also frequently occupies limited non-motorized vehicle lanes. In June this year, citizens complained to the mayor's hotline: On Huozhan Street, large trucks waiting to load goods were parked everywhere on the non-motorized vehicle lanes and sidewalks, especially at the intersection of Weilai Road and Huozhan Street, where dozens of large trucks were parked daily. Pedestrians and cyclists were forced to walk on the motor vehicle lanes, sometimes even in the middle of the road, posing serious safety risks. Although the traffic patrol brigade rectified the order on this section, chaotic situations still rebounded from time to time.
The situation of Zhengzhou's bicycle lanes being less than smooth has existed for a long time, especially after the implementation of the "Smooth Project."
A few years ago, Zhengzhou implemented measures for the "Smooth Project." These measures mainly aimed to ensure the smooth flow of motor vehicle lanes, prioritizing them over bicycle lanes. Some main roads converted original bicycle lanes into regular lanes for motor vehicles and moved bicycle lanes to the sides of the roads, mixing them with pedestrian paths. For example, Jinshui Road, Songshan Road, Renmin Road, etc. At rerouted intersections, traffic wardens waved flags to drive cyclists up the steps. The speed of motor vehicles increased, but the speed of bicycles decreased significantly. These measures are still in place today.
Moreover, Zhengzhou once restricted middle and primary school students from riding bicycles to school. At the end of 2004, to ensure the success of the "Smooth Project" implemented by the municipal government, the Zhengzhou Education Bureau stipulated that primary school students were not allowed to ride bicycles to school, and secondary schools would strictly control the number of students riding bicycles.
Riding a Bicycle ≠"Backwardness"
Relevant experts believe that the extensive occupation of urban bicycle lanes reflects a lack of humanistic care in urban planning and management.
Jiang Tingbi, former chief engineer of Zhengzhou Municipal Engineering Design Institute and senior engineer, in his article "Strategic Considerations on Comprehensive Urban Transportation in Zhengzhou," pointed out that from the perspective of road space usage, transporting one person requires seven times more road space for a car compared to public transportation. Therefore, large cities should primarily develop public transportation, with bicycles supplementing public transport in flat cities. Bicycles are not a symbol of backwardness; they will rejuvenate in the future. Studies show that within a 4.5-kilometer range, reaching a destination within half an hour, bicycles are the fastest, most convenient, pollution-free, and energy-saving mode of transportation. They occupy only 1/8th of the road space used by cars. Calculating the traffic volume per meter of road width, bicycles carry three times the traffic volume of cars.
Jiang Tingbi believed that traffic congestion is not caused by bicycles, and non-motorized vehicle lanes should not be compressed. In flat cities like Zhengzhou, non-motorized vehicle travel accounts for over 50% of total trips, with bicycle ownership already saturated, merely undergoing replacement updates. Additionally, the government’s policy of free bus rides for the elderly means that the total volume of non-motorized vehicle traffic will not increase. With ongoing new area developments and old city renovations, road areas increase annually. How can traffic congestion be attributed to bicycles? The root cause lies in the power departments repeatedly compressing non-motorized vehicle lanes to ensure the smooth passage of cars, forcing motorcycles onto non-motorized vehicle lanes, artificially causing congestion and affecting bicycle traffic safety.
Most users of non-motorized vehicle lanes are middle- and low-income citizens, students, or migrant workers, who generally receive little attention. Due to the rolling and shifting effects of motor vehicles, asphalt roads often form bumps in non-motorized vehicle lanes, resulting in uneven surfaces. Missing manhole covers, roadside parking, and vendors occupying lanes all affect bicycle traffic. Therefore, obstacles in non-motorized vehicle lanes need to be cleared and directed to ensure smooth and safe cycling. This will naturally reduce bicycles mixing with motor vehicles and benefit motor vehicle traffic.
In fact, some domestic cities are increasingly valuing the construction of bicycle lanes. The "Shenzhen Comprehensive Sustainable Transportation Development Strategy Plan" envisions the future of Shenzhen's transportation as follows: in the future, more than half of Shenzhen residents will use public transportation, private cars will be restricted during peak hours, and bicycles will become the favorite mode of transportation for commuters.
Abroad, the Netherlands has built dedicated bicycle lanes for ecological protection, with bicycle travel accounting for 52.6%, and even includes knowing how to ride a bicycle as a necessary condition for immigration.
How Zhengzhou Positions Its Bicycle Lanes
It is understood that the strategic goal of Zhengzhou's urban transportation construction is to implement the policy of prioritizing the development of urban public transportation and planned control of the growth of motorcycles and bicycles.
In Zhengzhou's passenger transportation development research report, among walking, bicycles, public transportation, and private cars, four major modes of transportation, public transportation uses several times fewer road areas for the same passenger volume, making it the most economical mode of transportation regarding road resources. Given Zhengzhou's requirement to become a megacity, prioritizing the development of conventional public transportation and actively developing rail transit is inevitable for Zhengzhou.
It is expected that by 2030, the proportion of residents' travel by conventional public transportation and rail transit in Zhengzhou will increase from the current 6.47% to 30%~40%. At the same time, starting from 2010, the development and use of private cars will be moderately controlled, allowing the development speed of automobile traffic to align with the speed of urban road construction. By 2030, Zhengzhou's car ownership rate will reach approximately 250 vehicles per thousand people, with the car travel ratio being 12%~15%. The scope of bicycle use will gradually decrease, playing a role mainly in short-distance travel, encouraging the development of the riding system, making bicycles a gathering and dispersal transportation tool for public and rail transport, guiding bicycle traffic to shift to public transportation. The proportion of bicycle travel will decrease from the current 48.7% to 15%~25% by 2030.
Currently, nearly half of Zhengzhou's population travels by bicycle.
However, according to Zhengzhou's urban transportation planning objectives, overall bicycle travel will face policy-induced compression. The current issue is how to ensure citizens can smoothly travel by bicycle, and how to find a scientific solution between long-term planning and immediate problems. Clearly, this has become an important topic facing urban managers.
Editorial Perspective
The Existence or Abolition of Bicycle Lanes Relates to Citizens' Rights
When I was very young, I learned from my textbook that China is a "bicycle kingdom." I squeezed into the city from the countryside, and whether as a farmer or an ordinary urban dweller, bicycles have always been my most important means of transportation. I also believe that on this land of China, people like me who use bicycles still make up the vast majority. We choose bicycles both because our economic capabilities are limited, preventing us from consuming private cars, and because bicycles themselves have characteristics such as speed, flexibility, and convenience.
Despite the current rapid increase in the number of cars, despite the increasingly severe traffic congestion in big cities, despite the rapid development of public transportation, if cities do not have bicycle lanes, it means the deprivation of rights for those of us who use bicycles. Because without dedicated bicycle lanes, it means we lose the right to use bicycles, our behavior of using bicycles easily enters prohibited zones, and our behavior of using bicycles becomes a "dangerous act."
Precisely because of this, the increasing cancellation of bicycle lanes in many places essentially constitutes an infringement on the freedom of citizens to choose their mode of transportation. After all, for travelers, their rights are equal. Any citizen has the right to choose their mode of transportation, and the practice of some cities canceling bicycle lanes is essentially using administrative means to restrict bicycle travel, thereby infringing on the rights of travelers.
Therefore, what I want to say is that in a "bicycle kingdom" like China, the absence of bicycle lanes would be extremely awkward and ridiculous. The existence or abolition of bicycle lanes appears on the surface to be merely a traffic issue, but in reality, it is also a question of whether urban managers truly prioritize people and respect citizens' rights. If our urban managers only blindly pursue "modernization and high-end", using administrative means to infringe upon and deprive citizens of their freedom to travel, then such practices will only create so-called "development illusions" and deviate from true public welfare. (Su Zichuan)