Bicycles could disappear from Asia, experts warn

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Bangkok | Thu, 11/13/2008 10:29 AM  

It is likely bicycles will have disappeared from China's and India's streets within the next decade, unless governments of the world's two most populous countries make a U-turn in their transportation policies. 

A joint study by the Netherlands-based Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE) and Indian-based Transport Research and Injury Prevention Program (TRIPP) was conducted in China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to measure each government's attitude to cyclists. 

"Today, China and India still have a lot of bikes but we are not sure if they will exist in the next five or 10 years as the governments' policies are not bicycle-friendly," I-CE resident representative in India, Anvita Arora, said during the Better Air Quality workshop here Tuesday. 

In India alone, the study -- covering 19 of the country's medium and large cities -- showed a sharp decline in bicycle journeys over the past two decades. 

"In New Delhi, only 5 percent of trips were made by bicycle in 2000, compared with about 20 percent in previous years," the study said. 

"The major shortcoming of almost all development proposals in Indian cities is that the bicycle tracks have not been planned as an integral part of the road networks." 

In Taiwan, home to 23 million residents and known as the kingdom of bicycle manufacturing, the government has long neglected cyclists. 

"There has been a growing dependence on private motorized transportation, as evidenced by the presence of 5.7 million cars and 12 million motorcycles," the study shows. 

Taiwan is currently trying to encourage cyclists to take to the road again. 

"In Singapore, you don't find bicycles at all and there is less policy support for them," Arora said, claiming the declining trend was affecting all Asian countries. 

"Everybody is talking about the impacts of climate change and air pollution but the number of bicycles is going down in Asia. It is very worrying." 

But Indonesia has made some progress in promoting the use of bicycles in the past three years, according to Transportation Study Institute (Instran) director Darmaningtyas. 

"There is a rising number of cyclists in Indonesia, mainly since the 2005 fuel price hike. Regional administrations, including Jakarta, Surakarta (Central Java) and Ngawi (East Java), are actively promoting the use of bicycles," he said. 

I-CE executive officer Tom Godefrooij said the main challenge for Asia was reversing the decline in the number of bicycles. 

"There are lots of programs to make it happen, including by stopping plans to provide roads (only) for cars. The road must be a place for all users, including cyclists," he said. 

He said the Dutch and Danish governments had maintained the proportion of bicycle trips at 20 to 25 percent of the total.