An End to Bike-Clogged Sidewalks?

For all you Beijingers who hate the clutter of Mobikes, Ofos, and Bluegogos currently littering the sidewalks, here's some promising news. Maybe, at least. Designated parking spaces for those bikes have begun popping up in Chaoyang, raising the prospects for orderliness on the capital's streets.

One of the new shared cycle spaces in Dongdaqiao

We happened to spot some of the freshly painted rectangles at the intersection of Chaoyang North and Dongdaqiao earlier today (Mar 31), albeit without any signs to mention what these rectangles are actually for. Additionally, The Beijing News reported this morning that four such parking areas are now available in Chaoyang, and authorities hope to complete 41 more soon in what is shaping up to be a trial run for sidewalk civility.

Sadly, the only shared cyclist using the designated spaces was me, and only for the purposes of this article

And while the whole thing seems like a solid idea, it hasn't gotten off to a good start. At least that was the case when I stopped by Dongdaqiao, where the spaces were entirely void of shared cycles (save for the Bluegogo I parked there, just for the hell of it).

In true Beijing fashion, someone goober missed the memo entirely, making use of one of the spaces with his Toyota.

The lines may have been painted but without any impetus to use them it's likely they'll go unnoticed. However, rampant and anarchic use of public space might change once the shared cycling companies enforce punitive policies, which appears like it may happen soon enough. Yesterday my wife got a message from Mobike, after parking her cycle, warning her (and other patrons) to be a more considerate parker.

A few weeks back, 163.com reported that new parking rules will even prevent riders from locking their bikes outside of designated spaces, on top of a fine for leaving the cycles out of bounds. To my knowledge, that policy hasn't been put in place yet. The whole thing seems a little draconian – I'd much rather learn through the positive reinforcement of discounts and freebies, instead of petty penalties. At the very least, it'd be great to see equal restrictions placed on drivers (see idiot above) that misuse public parking space (we can dream, right).

Regardless, some sort of drastic action needs to be taken against the haphazard parking of shared cycles. As much as I love, as the next person, to lazily park my Mobike directly outside the door of my destination, such poor habits have left our city looking like a messy obstacle course.

Naughty bikers beware: You'll understandably get penalized soon for doing anything like this

In Shanghai, where shared cycles seem to be just as popular as they are in the capital, designated parking spaces are already available and riders aren't parking their bikes with the same reckless abandon as Beijingers, providing hope that sanctioned spaces just might work. With a little time and lot of fining there's no reason we can't make this system work and prevent the above foolishness from happening on a regular basis.

Photos: BJNews.com.cn, Kyle Mullin, 163.com

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