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Opinion / Liang Hongfu

Forget bikes for HK's health

By Hong Liang (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-24 07:14

I was amused and bewildered to see the lead in a recent issue of a Hong
Kong English-language daily newspaper calling for the return of bicycles
on the city's streets.

The argument was the greater use of bicycles could help improve the
quality of the air, which was widely seen to be fouled by, among other
things, the emissions from the proliferating number of automobiles. The
writer cited examples in several European capitals where a growing number
of civic-minded citizens have chosen to ride their bicycles to work.

This doesn't come across as such a good idea for Hong Kong, with its many
narrow streets and heavy traffic.

Having lived in Shanghai on and off for almost two years, I have
developed a cycle-phobia. Those unrestrained two-wheeled monsters are a
menace to law-abiding pedestrians, either walking on the pavements or
crossing at the lights.

At the cross-section of four roads outside my apartment block, men and
women on bicycles and mopeds zip through traffic in total disregard of
the traffic lights and the safety of pedestrians.

Shanghai has many lovely tree-lined streets. Strolling down one of those
streets on a sunny afternoon can be a most relaxing experience, except
for the fast-charging bicycles that threaten to drive pedestrians off the
pavements from every direction.

Those sentimental environmentalists in Hong Kong who yearn for the return
of the bicycle should take a moment away from reading pollutant counts
and prophesizing doom to imagine the calamity that could be caused by
letting loose a few maniac cyclists into the crowded streets of Causeway
Bay or Mongkok on weekends.

Bicycles are banned from sidewalks and public parks in Hong Kong for the
safety of pedestrians and on elevated highways for the safety of the
cyclists. Other than that, people are free to cycle wherever they want.
But few do because everybody knows it is dangerous to fight for road
space against the many mammoth buses, heavy dump trucks and unyielding
taxis.

Building bicycle lanes is a luxury that land-scarce Hong Kong simply
cannot afford. Those environmentalists who have argued so passionately
for bicycle lanes should bear in mind that nearly every meter of flat
land in Hong Kong was created by reclamation from the ocean, which, in
itself, was not entirely an environmentally friendly undertaking.

The ultimate question cycle-loving environmentalists should ask is why we
need bicycles in Hong Kong, which has one of the most efficient public
transportation systems in the world.

The Hong Kong city subway is fast and clean, and it is never stiflingly
crowded even in rush hour. The railway lines that connect the city with
the heavily populated suburban areas are just as efficient if not as
grand.

These two mass transit systems are augmented by a huge fleet of buses,
most of which are air-conditioned, well maintained and comfortable even
for longer journeys. In addition, we have minibuses that link the many
housing estates with the nearest mass transit stations and a multitude of
taxis which are fairly cheap although the standard of service can vary
from indifferent to rude.

Nothing can beat the old clattering trams for short trips along the strip
of Hong Kong island's north shore through the shopping and commercial
district of Causeway Bay and the concrete jungle of the city's financial
citadel in Central. For a quarter, you can traverse the entire island on
the upper deck of a tram from east to west and get a glimpse of the best
and worst of Hong Kong.

So let's just forget the bicycle. If you need the exercise, take my
advice - work out on the cycling machine in your gym and take the bus
home.

E-mail: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/24/2007 page10)

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