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Return to the bike? Hard sell in Beijing

As Beijing marks car-free day for the first time, an entrepreneur pushes citywide rental scheme.

from the September 21, 2007 edition

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Even confirmed bike riders who own their own wheels might use the service, Wang hopes. In a city the size of Beijing, he points out "you can't take your own bike everywhere every day. Our business lets you convert your own bike into a card in your pocket."

The Beijing Bicycle Rental Co.'s major problem so far has been convincing the local authorities to allow it to establish rental centers. "There are a lot of different government agencies involved in this and it takes time to negotiate with all of them," says Wang. "So far, we have not had any active help from the government."

He looks with envy toward Europe, where Parisian authorities have set up an official citywide bike-rental system that works much like Wang's and where cities across the continent are encouraging the use of bicycles instead of cars.

He says he is baffled by Beijing's continuing trend to eliminate the bike lanes that once took up most of its roadways, and to make more room for motor vehicles instead. "It makes me feel lost when I see that," he says. "It's the absolute opposite from other countries."

But he is encouraged by the results of a day-long promotion of his business last month by a popular Beijing radio station. That brought him national TV coverage, which suggests that someone in authority likes his scheme, and potential partners who had shunned him when he launched his firm two years ago now seem to think his time has come, Wang says.

Insurance companies which had said they could not insure his bikes against rampant theft have changed their minds; bicycle manufacturers are competing to offer him discounts on bulk purchases, and the bank that refused to let him install credit card terminals in his rental cabins two years ago is now offering them free.

The company is still in search of customers, though, and Beijing is by no means as bike-friendly as it was before prosperity clogged its avenues and side streets with 3 million cars (and counting: 1,000 new cars hit city streets daily.)

Even one of Wang's most ardent backers, retired Utah businessman and bike freak Bill Delvie, who has volunteered his services to promote rentals, acknowledges bluntly that "this is the most dangerous city in the world to ride.

"You have to be alert, wide awake, and you have to know what you are doing," he warns. "But if you watch what the Chinese are doing, then you get savvy."

Wang says he is confident the Chinese will eventually get savvy enough to get out from behind their steering wheels and onto two wheels. "We used to be poor and look forward to owning a car as a status symbol, but we have to get over that," he insists. "The government moves slowly, slowly, but I see things getting brighter. We just have to be patient."

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