I admit, I follow environmentally related news from around the globe, and have come across a couple of tidbits from opposing corners of the world...

"BICYCLES SHANGHAIED
Shanghai Bans Bicycles from Major Streets

Shanghai, China, whose streets once teemed with peddling people, will
ban bicycles from most major thoroughfares beginning next year. It's
a dramatic (and, many say, depressing) shift for a city that was home
to some of the nation's earliest bicycle factories. Now, Shanghai
has become a center of China's burgeoning auto industry. Though
bicycles are still the main form of transportation for the country's
masses, members of China's burgeoning affluent class are buying cars
in ever-growing numbers and finding that bikes are getting in their
way. "Bicycles put great pressure on the city's troubled traffic
situation," said Shanghai police official Chen Yuangao. Cycling
advocates counter that cars, buses, and taxis are the real traffic
scourge and that they contribute to the notoriously bad air quality
in China's major cities. Beijing and other metropolitan areas are
also shunting bikes aside, encouraging autos to dominate the roads."


And now to Toronto, Canada:

"Clean Air Campaign Presenting Sponsor Suncor Energy Inc. kicked off
Clean Air Commute week with a fleet of rickshaws in downtown Toronto."

Now, THAT'S what I call progress!!!! :grin:

CG

LOL, if bicycles cause major traffic problems in Shanghai i wonder what more cars will do.....good logic, police logic what can i say.
The poeple who introduced this ban must be very snobish. It's stupid to ban the only way of transportation for those who can't afford a car.

I can understand it. They would prefer that bikes take the less busy streets, instead of roadways being used by cars and trucks. This is because bikes cannot match the speed of cars, and "bandwidth" is what they are looking for. Traffic tends to go as slow as the slowest means of conveyance. This means bikes have to get out of the way.

As cars go faster, the accident rate will rise.

I hope Ziyi wears her safety belts!!!!!!

I wish I could bike everywhere instead of using a car.:D If only everything were <5 miles away.

I'm waiting for the world to catch up to jet packs ..... :cool:

bad air soon. Just like us. Price of progress.

I wonder if the bike people decided to use the main highways anyway...if there was anything that could be done about it. What are they gonna do, roll out the tanks to flatten a few million bikes?

I thought about starting a rickshaw business for summertime in downtown. You wouldn’t believe what you have to do to operate a rickshaw here in
the States. Cars gotta stangle-hold on our economy.

The JarJar Rickshaw Company - s'gotta ring to it .... :grin: