The subject line may sound like the start of a third rate troll - but banning bicycles from the
streets of Shanghai to ease traffic congestion is official municipal government policy.
I returned from a ten day trip to Shanghai today (New Year's Eve) and have had a chance to observe
this seemingly absurd policy at first hand. This report is based on personal experience from three
trips to Shanghai over a nine year period, and conversations with my brother who has worked as a
property consultant in Shanghai since 1993.
I first visited Shanghai in the summer of 1995. The roads were clear of private cars, but full of
bicycles, small red VW taxis and the odd blue truck. Apart from the road from the airport, and a
single road tunnel connecting Shanghai to Pudong, I saw no evidence of major roads. The first
underground line opened while I was there, and I must have been about the first paying passenger on
the creatively named Line No 1. The carriage I was on was empty except for my brother, me and a
railway employee. There was evidence of major road construction all around the city: work had
started on the Inner Ring Road.
What a shock I had when I returned two years' later. Major road construction was going on all over
the place. Shanghai was one big traffic jam. The small red taxis were now large red taxis, there
were still few private cars, and the number of bicycles seemed little diminished. Metro Line No 2
had just opened, and trains on both Line 1 and Line 2 were severely overcrowded. Getting about the
city by taxi was very time consuming, so everyone cycled or went by Metro. The Inner Ring Road had
been completed and traffic flowed reasonably freely on it. Work had begun on the east-west and north-
south elevated highways, and construction was causing major congestion at street level. Two new
bridges had opened over the Hungpu River, connecting either end of the Inner Ring Road with Pudong,
and Pudong itself was being transformed from a rural backwater into a major area of office
development.
And again I was shocked at the pace of development on my return to the city for Christmas this year.
Shanghai now boasts 21 metro or light railway lines, either completed, under construction or planned
- named by the numbers 1 - 21 prefaced with the word "line", and a 30Km, 430 kph maglev railway.
Roads are mostly congestion free, the Inner Ring Road had been completed, the East-West elevated
highway, the North-South elevated highway and the Outer Ring Road. The Hungpu river now boasts seven
road crossings, four metro crossings and three foot/cycle crossings (four if you include the
passenger ferry). Pudong is full of high rise buildings, and all major roads in Pudong have
excellent facilities for bicycles in the shape of wide segregated cycle lanes with their own traffic
signals: cycling in Pudong is unlikely to be a problem for a great many years.
Private car ownership has risen greatly in Shanghai, large red taxis have been replaced by large
taxis of any colour other than red. Bicycles are still the favoured form of transport by a very
large number of people in Shanghai. The rise in motorised traffic has been more than matched by the
construction of the elevated highways and other major roads. Bicycles are banned from using the
elevated highways and the Outer Ring Road. In the case of the elevated highways, this is not a
problem as the cyclists can use the roads below, many of which have segregated cycle lanes.
It is on the main grid system of ground level roads in downtown Shanghai where there is a conflict
between cyclists and motorists. The municipal authority have a unique solution to the problem of
traffic congestion - ban cycles.
The ban applies to cycles in one direction only, in the other direction cycles (and mopeds) may
travel freely and cars are banned. In other words, the grid system of two way vehicular and bicycle
traffic is replaced by a grid of one way vehicular traffic with bicycle and moped traffic travelling
in the opposite direction. On road parking in banned throughout the city.
My impression is that both motorised and non-motorised traffic moves about the city more freely,
and there are fewer cycle-car conflicts. In effect, there are separate road networks for cars
and bicycles. Of course, not all roads have this system, but where it is in place, the system
seems to work.
Greater Shanghai's population is 170,000,000. The official population of the city is 20 million, but
the actual population is closer to 30 million - 5 times the size of London.
As an aside, I have obtained a copy of the questions and answers of the "Driver's and motorcycle
operator's traffic regulations and safety driving knowledge study guide" [sic], from the Shanghai
Public Security Bureau Vehicle Administration Office. The guide consists of 100 questions each with
3 possible answers. To pass the driving test, the applicant has to answer a minimum of 16 out of 20
randomly selected questions correctly. Over the coming months I will be cross-posting the questions,
one at a time, to uk.rec.driving, uk.rec.transport and soc.culture.china, with the correct answer
given in the following post.
As a taster, here is the question and answers to number 28:
A motor vehicle occurs traffic accident against a non-motor vehicle or pedestrian, and causes
casualty to the other party, the motor operator is not at fault, but should share with the
other party:
a) 10% of economic loss
b) 20% of economic loss
c) 30% of economic loss [sic]
You'll have to see post #28 in uk.tosspot for the answer.