Lost kingdom of bicycles – Revival of pedaling power faces dilemma

The Beijing municipal government thought the same. Early this month, the government announced its Green Action Plan, which hopes to make more bikes available for rent. The plan aims to have a network of 500 bike rental booths and 20,000 bikes by 2012, and then 1,000 booths with 50,000 by 2015.

The city’s transport authorities say the capital will build more bicycle lanes and more self-service bicycle centers across the city to encourage cycling.

Many of the new bicycle rental booths would be opened along the newly opened subway lines.

But the plan did not provide details on how the government would achieve this.

“For now, [the government’s plan] remains just a plan. The government has not announced any concrete measures to help rental firms,” Bai says.

Foreign cities with successful bicycle rental programs have only succeeded with government support, he said. The Velib scheme in Paris, for example, is funded by French taxpayers.

In China, the most successful bike rental scheme so far seems to be one in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The city now has 1,000 bicycle rental booths offering 20,000 bikes for rent.

Chen Guangcun, a teacher at Zhejiang University, says people can rent the bicycles using the IC transportation card with no deposit, and that the first hour of rental is free.

“If the bike is not returned on time, money is deducted from the card,” Chen said. “The procedure is simple and people really love to rent bikes here.”