Why did they ban motorcycles from many cities in China?
My guess was because of pollution?To many,dangerous.
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Why did they ban motorcycles from many cities in China?
My guess was because of pollution?To many,dangerous.
A little surprised to see this question from a veteran like you bigdamo :confused1:
Officially they are banned because of:
Noise pollution
Air pollution
Traffic crashes and fatalities
Illegal motorcycle taxi operation
Impact on traffic order
Impact on the image of the city
Theft and security
There is a giant PDF document here that explains the situation in Guangzhou city. It makes a pretty strong case for removing motorcycles from Chinese urban areas.
As far as I know, this is the current list
Guangdong Province - Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Shaoguan, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Shantou, Shenzhen
Liaoning Province - Shenyang, Dandong, Dalian, Tieling, Benxi, Anshan
Jiangsu Province - Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Nantong, Yangzhou, Yancheng, Huai'an, Xuzhou, Taizhou, Changshu, Zhangjiagang, Jiangyin, Lianyungang, Kunshan
Fujiang Province - Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Longyan, Xiamen
Zhejiang Province - Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Yiwu
Shandong Province - Yantai, Qingdao, Jinan
Hebei Province - Shijiazhuang, Tangshan, Zhangjiakou, Qinhuangdao
Henan Province - Luoyang, Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Nanyang, Linzhou, Jiaozou, Anyang
Heilongjiang Province - Harbin
Guizhou Province - Guiyang, Anshun, Tongren, Duyun, Zunyi
Anhui Province - Hefei
Jiangxi Province - Nanchang, Jiujiang
Hunan Province - Changsha, Xiangtan, Yueyang, Zhangjiajie, Hengyang
Sichuan Province -Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang, Yibin
Yunnan Province - Kunming, Yuxi, Qujing, Mengzi
Hainan Province - Haikou
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region - Nanning
Hubei Province - Wuhan, Xiangfan, Yichang, Zhongxiang
Shaanxi Province - Xian
Shanxi Province - Taiyuan
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region - Baotou, Ordos, Dongsheng, Hohhot
Jilin Province - Changchun
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region - Yinchuan
Gansu Province - Lanzhou
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region - Urumqi
Cheers!
ChinaV
Umm yes.I posted something on another motorcycle forum and they asked me why they where banned.It then struck me that officially I didn't know why only I was told through Chinese citizens why they where banned sometimes that can be abit sketchy.
Lanzhou for example on your list there banned.I saw plenty of motorcycles there when I asked "so there not banned" I was told that the local minority the Hui's are sort of allowed and every one else sort of follows there example unofficially.Typical western China.
Interestingly you will see some motorcycle's in Urumqi on the roads but not many very few.
I was in Guangzhou along time ago when they had motorcycles then left for a few years and came back when they had no motorcycles.Interesting the difference.Can't say it made much of a difference. Traffic was and still is extremely bad but I guess a few million moved into that hell hole in the interim.
Whether the population grew is a moot point. What grew is the number of cars, even as motorbikes were given the boot. Surely for each motorcycle purged from Guangzhou's streets, recent years have seen the addition of at least a couple if not several cars.
It's a sick but recurring cycle that will eventually render all of urban China unlivable.
Postscript: I and some mates tried to take a taxi from Kunming's university district (in the northwest part of town) to the airport (in the southeast) and left ourselves what we thought was plenty of time -- about 2.5 hours. After waiting 20 minutes for a taxi that never came, we hopped a bus into town thinking we'd get one there (perhaps a strategic mistake). Bus got us across town, albeit slowly in molasseslike traffic. And we managed to grab a black car. Which moved us about 300m down the road until, in a panic, we bailed out at the sight of two motorbike cabs in a driveway. It took us no more than 45 seconds to negotiate a fare and hop on (me with a rollercase on one, two buddies on another!). Powered by a couple dozen horses at best between them, these two guys rode like dervishes and got us to the airport with 3 minutes to spare! And Kunming is on ChinaV's list of no-bike cities!
It was my first time on a bike since my little educational spill in the same city back in August. Gawd, I can't wait to get back on my own bike. Bans be damned!
cheers
Thanks for this and the list of "bad" cities :icon10:
In-official reasons are:
They ban all bikes because they don't want to have the farmers without driving license and without insurance in the urban areas.
Protect the image of the shining cities. In other words, no image like Lao Jia Hou's avatar :lol8:
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/im...ine=1275058469
They cannot ask "fees" from a peasant.
It is true - the anti-bike attitude has been painful.
At first, I had to use a taxi to carry my goods to market ...
Attachment 2978Attachment 2979
However, with rising pork prices came rising profits, so my lovely business partner and I have upgraded to our own car to keep the mandarins happy.
Attachment 2977Attachment 2980
We are still waiting to win the Beijing license plate lottery for this fine Lada. Notice the sophisticated color-coordination of my partner, right down to her exquisite flip-flops?
Life is good in China.
Beats my hog hauler.
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...ahoghauler.jpg
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...ekah/hogs1.jpg
Caught 16 feral hogs at one time in my trap out at Bar None Ranch.
"From 1991 to 2007, the implementation of Guangzhou’s motorcycle ban was not done in a sudden
or radical way, but was rather progressively carried out, starting with a range of gradually tightening
restrictions and ending with a complete ban. The policy and key strategic decisions were based on
investigation and analysis"
This is exactly what is happening in Shanghai now. First Shanghai makes getting a bike legal difficult and expensive. Then they start confiscating all the illegal ones and banning them from petrol stations. Finally they restrict who can own bikes. I just heard that Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, and people from Macau no longer are able to register their bikes in shanghai under there foreign passports anymore. I am betting other foreigners will be next.
I believe Shanghai is inching towards a full ban in the next few years...
dto for Wuhan!
That's pretty depressing to think about... The day that china completely outlaws bikes is the day that i give up on this country...
Why are motorcycles illegal in many cities?
The mayor of the city drives either a BMW 760Li or a Buick Park Avenue, damn he loves that car, but he's always stuck in traffic and he isn't elected. Got it?
Zibo is getting it's own race track! But the plan is it be 'strictly for cars only' in a sort of car theme park. :eek2: Lame.
http://i.imgur.com/lJwvs.jpg
This is in a small town called XingAn, 60km north-east of Guilin. The toktoks and motorcycles are buzzing around like ants. I can understand why motorcycles are banned. It's really difficult to police that many bikes and general driving education is really hopeless, so a ban is the only solution, or is it?
You put these motorbike and tuktuk drivers in cars, do their skills and respect for law improve?
I think traffic police finds it easier to control cars than motorcycles. Traffic signs, marked roads, camera's.. make police's job alot easier. Not saying that I like the one size fits all approach to the problem, but that's just what's happening.
Only a few years ago kunming used to be full of bicycles. Now it's becoming another city choked with car fumes.
That's China. Make an absolute law. The reality is there is no way to selectively govern the people. Laws in China have to be extreme. Imagine just 0.1% of the population not following the laws. It would be chaos (which it already is). Chinese people are "resourceful". If there is a loophole, they will find it. I can understand it, but I don't like it. I wouldn't expect anymore from a largely amoral, atheistic society that has it's cultural shaped by decades of poverty, strife, and social upheaval. It's survival of the fittest and the traffic reflects it.
I see hope though. Some people are starting to queue in lines. Stay on the right side of an escalator. Wait for other people to exit the subway train before entering... When most people start doing this, maybe we will see traffic getting more orderly, and motorcycles being allowed again...
strong words, i agree, but i learned something from that other point of view!
You wrote "just 0.1% of the population not following the laws" - that might be more than 1 million people, i guess most of them are living in Wuhan ;-)
My personally hope is, with more money they will have, with more "fun" they want have, to warm to ride big bikes
In the meantime, I aim to be semi-legal. As a poster pointed out about the Shanghai situation, it costs big bucks to legally register a bike downtown. An unregistered bike isn't legal, but having a legal motorcycle drivers license is better than nothing if pulled over by a cop. As well, I've had gas station attendants say they can still fill up the bike if I produce my drivers license even if there are no plates on the bike.
The ban in Guangzhou is unique in the sense that the downtown area is effectively an island (large river delta) and requires bridges / tunnels to access it. So it is easy to enforce a full-scale motorcycle ban because they're not allowed on the bridges. The police have cameras, etc. and there are limited access points to the bridges. Shenzhen is similar in that most of the roads are also expressway-style and it is easy for the police to enforce the no bike rule, simply by parking at the on-ramps in their police cruisers or watching from the cameras.
To a certain extent, it works like this in Shanghai with the elevated roads and bridges leading into Pudong. You never bikes going across the Lupu Bridge, all the elevated roads, or the various tunnels across the river. For that reason, Pudong is effectively cut off from bikes unless you use a ferry which is rather inconvenient. If I'm going to Pudong, for example, I just take the subway and only use the bike on the Puxi side.
On the other hand, the surface roads within the downtown core are filled with two-wheeled traffic. So long as you stay off the elevated roads and bridges, I don't see how this could change much in the future.
I am in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, one of the smaller richer cities.
I was told older bikes have plates allowing them in the city CBD....
But if I buy a new bike, I MUST be a resident, (or know someone with an address,) in the West of the city.
And can only really ride around that western district, no city center, no freeway action either.
Its a shame, here the Ebikes swarm like locusts, they do not have to be registered, and seem to have the run of the roads.
I have been told if one hits me while driving a car, I will have a hard time getting any justice.
Although I have seen a crowd encircle a woman on an E bike who hit a taxi, refused to pay the 200 yuan demanded!
And the crowd did not let her escape, telling her it had all been caught on traffic camera, and she must pay.
It is so frustratingly obvious it is the ludacrous numbers of rogue E bikes that cause the traffic chaos here. Really jerks my chain!
But I have learnt a lesson today, TIC, this is China! I just have to harden up ;)
I'm moving to Shenzhen next month and I'm sad to have to leave Squeazel here in Xi'an under the care of Felix whilst I figure out just WTF i'm gonna do..
oh woe is me..
:gaah:
Authorities plan to run souped-up mopeds off road
Shanghai Daily Newspaper / March 3, 2012
SOUPED-UP scooters and mopeds are being targeted by Shanghai traffic authorities.
Traffic police and industry officials confiscated more than 10 illegally customized electric mopeds in recent raids in Putuo District and suspended sales in 16 unlicensed shops.
Officials say the increasing number of souped-up scooters is hampering efforts to reduce accidents.
Souped-up scooters and mopeds are heavier and more powerful, making them more dangerous, said officials.
The death toll in city accidents involving mopeds and scooters has remained high in recent years.
Last year, 237 people were killed in accidents involving mopeds, out of a total of 944 road traffic accident fatalities.
Shanghai Vice Mayor Zhang Xuebing said yesterday that "it's relatively hard to eliminate illegal electric mopeds and reckless riding in a short time."
But Zhang said the city must "act quickly and correctly," or the situation will get worse.
The city is currently waging a three-month-long campaign against illegally customized mopeds and scooters.
There are more than 2.7 million registered electric mopeds in Shanghai, with another 158,000 added each year.
However, many more mopeds and scooters - 3 million, according to some estimates - are on the roads without licenses or with ones issued elsewhere, said Guo Jianrong, secretary general of the Shanghai Bicycle Industry Association.
In the recent raids in Putuo, police found mopeds customized to exceed the legal limit of 15 kilometers per hour.
Fines will be imposed on stores found to be selling these vehicles, said officials.
Some souped up scooters with increased battery capacity can achieve speeds of up to 70 kph, according to insiders.
Guo admitted that current regulations, issued more than 10 years ago, are out-of-date.
"Riders nowadays do not have the same attitude toward regulations as people did previously," added Guo.
YOUNG foreigners on skateboards and souped-up scooters are creating road safety hazards and annoying other residents, according to police.
Police say they have received complaints about skateboarders and riders zooming around residential complexes and roads.
While no serious accidents have been reported involving this group, officers are now going to international schools to teach road safety.
"It's important to establish such communication," said Cai Xin, director with Changning District immigration police office. "They'll learn basic traffic knowledge in China, which will obviously benefit them."
Cai said a lack of knowledge of China's traffic laws sometimes led to misunderstandings.
Officers already visit complexes to advise skateboarders, and university campuses, following complaints about noisy customized mopeds.
Yesterday, police visited a foreign school in Changning District, home to one of Shanghai's biggest foreign communities.
Staff welcomed the initiative. "In the United States," said Faustina Martinez, principal of the Livingston American School, "police and fire departments go to schools to do this."
Pheew, it's so lucky that it is all the fault of the foreign kids, that way they can be so easily targeted as the cause of the problem, and three million of them causing havoc! Really the clever Chinese police can teach the awful foreigners how to drive properly! 'No foreign kid, you must shout louder into your phone and smoke more cigarettes on the way to extorting money at the traffic lights'.
Did I read that between the lines? :lol8:Quote:
While no serious accidents have been reported involving this group, officers are now going to international schools to teach road safety, such as how to reverse into a busy road properly, and the Chinese 'maneuver, maneuver, signal, mirror' driving system, and how to put intestines in a plastic box in case of accident injury.
Cai said a lack of knowledge of China's traffic laws sometimes led to misunderstandings. "Sometimes foreigners think that they should give way and look when turning right" Cai said.
My thoughts exactly, ZMC. All the times I've visited Jiaoji Lu in Shanghai and seen all the tricked out, souped up scooters (all petrol or lpg, by the way, not electric), I never once noticed their young foreign owners anywhere near them. They must have been hiding somewhere, and allowing local Chinese kids to watch their dangerous sooperscoots for them. Come to think of it, all I ever saw were Chinese kids on or near these rolling disasters. Never once a foreigner. Need to see my eye doctor, I guess.
These scooters are indeed extraordinarily dangerous, as they are very powerful, place all the emphasis on acceleration and speed and noise and none on stopping power or mirrors or good tires, etc, and almost never have legal plates or any plates at all. It's strange, I see (and hear) these bikes every time I enter traffic in Shanghai, but I guess they are invisible to law enforcement. Maybe if they had plates the police would realize they are dangerous.
Sheesh.
G'Day,
The suburbs near the international schools (Minhang, Hongqiao, Qingpu) have a lot of teenagers and adults on scooters, the noisy - non plated- annoying scooters mention in the SD story above.
Go to the Starbucks / Subway / Burrito Shack near the American School (Puxi Campus) and you know what I am on about, just up the road near the CitySupermarket outlet you find some scooter "tuning" shops that caters 99.9% to the laowei kids & parents......
No, I am not a teacher, just a lot of logistics and warehouse companies are located near the American school (Puxi)......
WTF?? Someone please explain this to meQuote:
officers are now going to international schools to teach road safety, such as how to reverse into a busy road properly, and the Chinese 'maneuver, maneuver, signal, mirror' driving system, and how to put intestines in a plastic box in case of accident injury.
And when shouldn't I be looking when I turn?Quote:
Cai said a lack of knowledge of China's traffic laws sometimes led to misunderstandings. "Sometimes foreigners think that they should give way and look when turning right" Cai said.
Sorry dude, I was satirizing the article!Quote:
Originally Posted by slabo