Plummeting Bike Use in Beijing, and the Need for a Global Strategy

Can this trend be reversed in Beijing?
(Photo: crypt K.
via Flickr)

Today on the Streetsblog Network, Eco
Velo has a post about the precipitous decline in bicycling in
Beijing:

According to a recent article published by Agence France-Presse
(AFP), increasing affluence in China has caused the rate of bicycle
ridership in Beijing to drop from a high of 80 percent in the 1980s to
less than 20 percent today. Though 20 percent is still very high by U.S.
standards, the drop is nothing short of stunning. The results of this
dramatic increase in driving are predictable, with massive traffic jams
and intense smog now the norm.

Commenter Lovely Bicycle adds this thought:

This just goes to show that when bicycle use is high from
necessity alone, it is not a stable situation. Only when the *status* of
the bicycle in society changes, will its future be guaranteed.

Which brings us back to the idea we wrote about earlier in the
week. How is it that we can achieve that perceived
increase in status for bicycling here in the United States — and
around the world? Or is that even the best route to increasing mode
share?

The situation in Beijing shows just how high the stakes are on a
global scale, and how diffuse and localized the solutions will need to
be. How can we use the tools we have to create those solutions?

As I write this, I am sitting in the Personal
Democracy Forum 2010 conference. Most of the people here are
struggling with these same types of questions, no matter their political
persuasion or the cause they want to advance. I hope to share some of
the strategies I’m hearing about with all of you over the next couple of
weeks.

More from around the network: Car
Free With Kids on the uncommon phenomenon of common courtesy. Cap’n
Transit on the priorities of transit managers. And American
Dirt on the difference between a neighborhood and a subdivision (is
it real?).