Pedal power for Chaoyang
- Source: Global Times
- [08:27 April 22 2011]
- Comments
A woman passes a Daxing district bicycle rental outlet on January 10. Over 20 such outlets were added near subway stations after the Daxing line was opened. Photo: CFP
By Yan Shuang
The Chaoyang district government intends to build 179 bicycle rental outlets alongside subway Line 10 and by residential communities or workplaces within this year, according to the district governor Thursday.
Chaoyang plans to have 500 such outlets by 2015, district governor Cheng Lianyuan said on Beijing Public Service Radio Wednesday.
"Most of the outlets will be alongside the Third Ring Road. They will be distributed around subway exits and entrances, supermarkets, food markets, hospitals and residential buildings, one every 3 kilometers on average. The price is about 1 yuan [$0.15] per hour," Su Chaowei, media section chief with the district's commission of city administration, told the Global Times Thursday.
Residents may be able to pay for rentals using public transportation cards or cell phones, Cheng said, as the district has been in touch with telecommunications companies to discuss development of card-swiping payment terminals, the Beijing Daily reported Thursday.
Chaoyang's plan is part of an overall citywide one, according to Cheng. The Municipal Commission of Transportation launched a campaign to promote public bike services in November last year, starting from pilot outlets near subway stations and later spreading to the rest of the city, according to a Beijing Times report on November 12 last year.
Enterprises that run the program will receive government tax and land use support.
It was the first time the government put forward the idea of public bikes, the report said. Most previous rentals were operated by individual companies.
Su did not reveal how much the district government has invested in the plan or how much in subsidies operating enterprises will receive.
Without government support, private bike rental companies have struggled for survival in Beijing.
Fortune Bicycle Rental, which had about 200 Beijing outlets and over 10,000 bikes, was forced to shut down in November last year after losing 10 million yuan over two years, the Legal Mirror reported.
Details for the plan have yet to be revealed, according to Cheng, and residents are welcome to raise suggestions for the locations and operations of the outlets, he said.
