Huangpu is cracking down on bike riding and parking
In an effort to curb the problems caused by Shanghai's bike-sharing craze, the Huangpu district government has announced a severe crackdown on the use of bicycles in the downtown area.
They have outlined specific areas where both the riding and parking of bikes has been prohibited - rental and private bikes alike. These areas include hot spots such as People's Square, Xintiandi, Yu Garden, Tianzifang, and Nanjing Lu Pedestrian Street, as well as 27 other commercial roads in the district, including Huaihai Lu and Nanjing Dong Lu. Riders who fail to adhere to the regulations will be at risk of a 20-50RMB fine from traffic police.
The Huangpu government is hoping to have the issues of rogue bike parking, etc cleared up by May 2, according to Shanghai Daily, with big-name bike-sharing industry brands like Ofo and Mobike happy to cooperate with the campaign and looking set to have parked bikes removed from the restricted areas by April 19.
Jingan district also looks set to get stricter on avant-garde parking, naming more than 20 roads - including Nanjing Xi Lu and Changshu Lu - where you can't abandon your rental bikes all willy-nilly. Hopefully, these new regulations will put an end to the problems caused for many by the build up of bikes in public areas. However, we'll have to wait and see if the wheels come off...
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