My kingdom for a bicycle lane

My kingdom for a bicycle lane

After years of losing ground¹ to cars, Beijing’s beleaguered² bicyclists have won the support of a powerful new ally³. Qiu Baoxing, China’s vice⁴-minister of construction, took up their cause⁵ on June 14th at a Beijing conference on urban planning. Mr Qiu, speaking in the wake⁶ of a World Bank report that called on⁷ officials to improve urban transport, chastised⁸ cities across China for pursuing⁹ development schemes that discourage cycling. China, he said, should instead be working hard to keep its erstwhile¹⁰ title as "the kingdom of bicycles". Mr Qiu noted that between 1978 and 2004 the number of vehicles on China’s roads increased 20-fold to 27m. He predicted¹¹ another five-fold¹² rise by 2020. To accommodate¹³ this growth, Beijing and other cities have turned bicycle lanes over to cars and parking spaces, forcing cyclists into the thick¹⁴ of traffic. Growing pollution has only added to cyclists’ woes¹⁵.
Nowhere is the trend¹⁶ more apparent than in Beijing. With its flat terrain¹⁷ and dry weather, Beijing is theoretically¹⁸ ideal for cyclists, and for decades cycling was the capital’s leading mode of commuter transport¹⁹. As recently as 1998, 60% of Beijing commuters used bicycles, according to the Cycling Association of China. By 2002 that figure had already dropped to 20%. Some²⁰ 1,000 cars are added to the city’s roads each day.

Here are 2 exercises for you to try:

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

My kingdom for a bicycle lane