Someone read in a kunming newspaper that electric bicycles would be temporarily banned .......Ok, I hope it's a joke and I'm a loser to ask here..

Any info??

Sounds like a great idea!

With no electic bikes, the cars and buses will be able to go much faster in the cycle lanes than they do already, thus improving everybody's quality of life.

Plus, for every electric bike taken off the road, that will be two more adults and one more child on a bus - the extra company bus passengers will have is sure to make for a more sociable experience.

As an added spin-off, perhaps more people will buy cars, and the extra pollution will help keep out those harmful solar rays which people in other cities don't have to put up with.

Hurrah for common sense!

as i understand it, the ban lasts only for 100 days, and the fines for using them range from 5 to 50 kuai. the only angle i can see on it is that of a short term revenue raising session by the police. hedgepig is expecting to see little or no difference on the streets.

Are you sure about this? I was told that on the spot 50CNY fines were going to be issued, from now on, for people exceeding the 1.5 passenger limit for these bikes due to an upsurge in accidents. Not a total ban.

damn, now what'll i do with the extra fraction of a person that usually rides with me?

Chop him up and put him in the bathtub--where you're already storing the other half.

I took my son to pre-school this morning on the electric scooter. There seemed to be just as many electric scooters as usual, but unusually, I saw only 1 scooter carrying more than the 1.5 legal limit. On the way home stopped at one of the main intersections, there was the standard 4+ yellow shirts with their whistles and red flags directing traffic under the supervision of a policeman. A yellow shirt immediately forced the overburdened scooter off to the kerb and made the illegal passenger disembark, but instead of the usual waving him on from there, the policeman came over and demanded to see papers. At that point the green light came on and I set off, but I have no doubt a fine was issued. It will be interesting to see if this enforcement continues and for how long, hedgepig intimated that it may be for 100 days. The electric scooters definitely lose stability and power when carrying an extra adult and I can see the sense in trying to stop people doing this, but if they really want to cut down on injuries they should make sure people wear helmets and turn on their headlights at night. It would be a good thing if they did something about the suicidal taxi drivers too. I've lost count of how many times I've nearly been hit by taxi drivers suddenly swerving into the bicycle lane without warning.

@atomic

no, i'm not sure about this. i only read the headlines on the newspapers, which of course tend to lead with the shock value of the story, rather than the facts.

i tried to declare my degree of knowledge with "as i understand it" but i guess i could have been clearer :)

there's a story here news.kunming.cn/km-news/content/2009-05/11/content_1875914.htm that's mainly about the question of whether you're allowed to carry children (yes, so long as they're under 1.2m) which summarises some useful info:

[] 今天起,将对电动车载人、不按规定车道行驶、逆行、闯红灯进行处罚,处罚金额为50元以下。

"from today, electric bikes carrying people and riding in the car lane, going against the traffic flow, jumping red lights will be subject to penalties of 50 yuan or lower"

my chinese reading is poorer than it should/could be, so please confirm this elsewhere. maybe ask your friendly paichusuo :P

hah, atomic just posted while i was writing - thanks for the on-the-ground observations - hedgepig is yet to leave his rustic sty. i wonder about push bikes? are they now in line for increased enforcement?

also, i'd like to revise my translation as it's ambiguous:

"from today, electric bikes carrying people, riding in the car lane, going against the traffic flow, jumping red lights will be subject to penalties of 50 yuan or lower"

噶

"from today, electric bikes carrying people, riding in the car lane, going against the traffic flow, jumping red lights will be subject to penalties of 50 yuan or lower"

Sounds like common sense to me. Any initiative that can help the traffic situation and the safety here in Kunming is much appreciated. It will be forgotten in a month but still,,,