Green (and Healthy) Transportation in China

Advocated from 1982; last updated 2011.02.18

China roads were dominated by bicycles in the 70's. As cars replace bicycles, traffic congestion becomes the norm. Cars pollute, and congestions may become intolerable in big cities. China could have implemented the greenest transportation: to build roll-on roll-off undergrounds and trains for bicycles. All short distance travel will be covered by bicycles, long distance by trains.

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“There are nine million bicycles in Beijing”:

“There are nine million bicycles in Beijing”, sang Katie Melua. I won’t take the number “nine million” too seriously. After all, Katie has been challenged by Simon Singh (for a bit of fun) on her lyric “we are twelve billion light years from the edge”. What is a fact is that there are many, many bicycles in China. Tiananmen was full of bicycles when I visited it in 1979. The same applies to Shanghai and Kwangtung around the same time.

Can one drive in 10 years' time?

Now these cities are full of cars. It is already pretty difficult to travel by car in Beijing now. It will be unimaginable when car ownership reach the same level as the US or Western Europe. Can one still drive by then? What are the solutions? If they have any solutions, the West would want to know. Many say that M25 is the biggest car park in UK.

Potential solution: bicycles on underground and trains:

As China develops, these big cities needed to build undergrounds. They have missed the opportunity to implement the greenest transportation. They could have built undergrounds that specialise in taking bicycles. The undergrounds should be designed in such a way that cyclists could ride into the underground, and push their bikes onto trains specially built to carry bikes. This way, all short distance travelling will be covered by bicycles, and long distances by trains. The system will be efficient, green and healthy to the users. Similarly, trains should be designed for roll-on, roll-off by bicycles. That way, China will have a green transportation. It will probably have a healthier population (helped by cycling exercises).

Better late than never:

I’ve advocated this publicly since the 1980’s, when China started to develop. Many big cities have missed their opportunities. But it is better late than never. Some cities have yet to build their undergrounds. The question is whether they have the determination to implement green transportation. Against them are car manufacturers, who would lobby the government to build more roads instead.

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