politics - Shanghai saves the bicycle

The Shanghai police department shocked the world last year by announcing a ban on bicycles in the extended downtown area. Now in a dramatic reverse of this highly contested policy decision the Shanghai Urban Planning Bureau has reversed the announced crackdown on China's most popular mode of transportation.
The Shanghai police wanted to clear the roads for the growing number of cars in the city, but forgot to ask the Shanghai citizens for their opinion. Still, more Shanghainese use a bicycle and because of the traffic jams a bicycle is anyway faster than a car.
Deputy-director Wu Jiang announced on Friday that Shanghai would accommodate the cyclists even more than the past by building special roads, the Shanghai Daily reports. He also encourage foreign visitors to visit the World Expo in 2010 on a bicycle. Shanghai has now officially nine million bicycles and the number is growing. Solid figures are not present as many Shanghainese avoid the registration fee of less than one Renminbi.