Beijingers pedal into a clean, healthy future

 With more than 20 million residents and 5.5 million cars, Beijing is teetering on the brink of gridlock, as roads become parking lots and subways sardine tins.
Riding to the rescue of the bloated city is an army of commuters on old-fashioned bicycles.
Beijing introduced a new public bicycle system in June 2012 with 2,000 bikes in two districts. This year public bike stations are sprouting up everywhere downtown.
"Thanks to public bikes, I have escaped from the crowded buses and subways," said Zhang Xin, 30. Zhang unhitches a steed in Fengtai in the southwest part of the city most mornings and checks it back in to a stance by his office in Xuanwumen 30 minutes later. Depending on how he feels at the end of the day, he can return home by the same means or take the lazy way on a stifling subway.
Some 130,000 Beijingers have signed up for the service and there are now 25,000 public bikes scattered all over Beijing.
"Yesterday, more than 200 people called up to ask about the bikes and 130 registered for the scheme in Fengtai alone," one of the operators told Xinhua.
After paying a refundable deposit of 200 yuan (32 U.S. dollars), Beijingers can borrow the bikes free of charge for the first hour and for 1 yuan per hour thereafter. They can pick up a bike in one place and return it to any other depot.
Cycling is good for numerous ills that assail Beijing's public transit network, not just the health of the the riders. More people on bikes means less congestion and cleaner air. The bikes have been rented almost 10 million times, an average of four times a day for each bike. According to the commission, there will be 50,000 bikes on the streets by the end of 2015.
"Public bicycles make it easy to reach the subway or bus stations. They make it easier for people to chose public transport and leave their cars at home," said Mao Baohua, executive director of China Transportation Research Center at Beijing Jiaotong University.
Most Beijingers rely on public transport to get to work, but the journey is rarely much fun. "Commuters expect to walk the first or last kilometer, or both" said Mao.
The time actually spent on buses and subways accounts for only 40 percent of the total journey time, so the benefits of reducing the walking time and the beginning and end of journeys is obvious.
Topographically, Beijing is a very flat city. Whatever 'hills' there are are generally access ramps to flyovers and bridges. Most roads have wide lanes at either side for bikes and motorcycles.
As early as 2005, Beijing introduced public bikes, but run by private companies. During the 2008 Olympics there was a huge demand from tourists and visitors but the scheme collapsed due to minimal government support and high charges. The deposit used to be 400 yuan. People were charged 20 yuan per day or five yuan per hour -- twenty-five times the normal single fare on a public bus, two and a half times the cost of the subway. The number of places where people can get bikes has increased now and they are arranged in a more reasonable way.
"The service is much better now that the government is the major player," said Wu Jun, who was among the first batch of users.
"Both domestic and overseas experiences told us that totally reliance on the market does not work for a public bike system," said Mao. Low cost or even free services are key to public enthuisiasm.
As he prepared to propel himself home again, Zhang Xin still has some minor complaints. "The number of bike stations is still not enough, especially in some busy places or during rush hours," he said.
Beijing's lousy air is not exactly welcoming to outdoor activities either. "I would not risk my health by going out on a bike on smoggy days," said Zhang.