The rise and fall and rise (and possible fall again) of the world's largest bike city.
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The biggest cycling years for China peaked in the 80s-90s when there were 9 million bicycles on the streets of Beijing alone (ya know the song) and cycling lanes were 3 car lanes wide. On average about half of all Chinese people owned a bike - in the capital it was 72%.
The country had mass produced bicycles in the 1970s, making it the world's biggest mechanical vehicle, and gave it the moniker 'Kingdom of Bicycles'. They even gave them away as state gifts during presidential visits, notably the famous Flying Pigeon brand.
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However by the carcentric mid nineties car lobbies began waging war on the two wheelers - cities from Guangzhou fell from 34% ridership to just 10%, an all-time low in 2003, Beijing from 63% in 1986 to 39% in 2010 (though by then owning an absurd amount of bikes - 13-14 million).
Since then bike ridership companies have boomed, and city authorities are aiming to restore the 'Kingdom of Bicycles'. Beijing now counts only about 5 million bicycles, half of them on cheap bike share programmes, with 18% (4 million) of the population using them to commute daily (in part the low is thanks to the worlds largest subway system). The bike shares are coming under increasing scrutiny from the high amount of bikes left scattered across the city, or clogging up alleys and streets. The rides are also so cheap (made through the super-simple Chinese style of mobile payment) the sustainability of the companies, who rely on investment rather than income, are under question - regulation is looming. Also, although all streets have bike lanes, many are abused by car drivers, some of whom even park on them.
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