The Shanghai municipal government's blueprint to build a network of bike lanes by 2020 should be good news for the city's cyclists and environment, but it would certainly be much better if this plan could become a reality far sooner.

According to a recent Xinhua News Agency report, 13 north-south lanes and 12 east-west lanes, with a total length of more than 300 kilometers, will form the skeleton of the system. The plan will also ensure that cyclists are free from the menace of aggressive mopeds and motorbikes.

For years, cyclists in downtown Shanghai have found it harder and harder to get on the road. Many of the original bike lanes have disappeared during the massive redevelopment of the city's road network over the past two decades. As a result, many cyclists have been pushed onto the sidewalks, vying for the narrow space with pedestrians, both old and young.

Strolling on Shanghai's sidewalks is often a dangerous experience, not knowing when you could be hit by a speeding bike or a roaring moped.

In fact, accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians are now a daily occurrence in the city.

With such chaotic traffic control, it is no longer fun to stroll on the sidewalks, nor is it fun to cycle in the biggest metropolis of the "Bicycle Kingdom".

For those daring cyclists who have no choice but to continue to ride in the lanes that once belonged to them, it is often a race between life and death.

It is unfortunate that in the battle with the growing number of automobiles churned out by all-powerful automakers, Shanghai's 10 million bikes have sadly become the losers.

In fact, tens of millions of cyclists in many other cities of the "Bicycle Kingdom" are facing the same dire situation.

I guess this plight has to do with local planners, many of whom believe that cars represent development and modernity, while bikes reflect things of the past or "backwardness". With development and modernization being the catchwords of the past two decades, Shanghai and many other cities have shown little mercy in getting rid of old things, such as razing traditional houses and dismantling vintage outdoor markets.

This is really unfortunate.

It is unfortunate because, by giving more lanes to automobiles, we are encouraging more people to buy cars the main culprit of the city's noise and air pollution.

It is a fact that car exhaust fumes are responsible for China's growing numbers of cases of respiratory diseases and cancer. With China set to become the world's largest car market in 10 years and more cars going on the roads, this health hazard is set to become much worse.

It is unfortunate because, by encouraging more people to buy cars, more of the limited land resources in crowded cities such as Shanghai will be used as parking lots, instead of as playgrounds or parks. We have already seen that happening recently in many new residential areas in Shanghai.

It is also unfortunate because, by giving more lanes to cars, cities like Shanghai are also discouraging cycling, an environmentally friendly form of transport.

This is truly unfortunate for the millions of cyclists who would otherwise have more opportunities and a more pleasant environment in which to pedal and exercise.

People ambling on the sidewalks would also be happier if they didn't have to worry all the time about bikes and mopeds mowing them down.

More importantly, cutting the number of bike lanes is simply depriving cyclists mostly people on lower incomes of the right to their roads. It favors wealthy car owners and powerful automakers.

All of this goes totally against the principle of the harmonious society that we are striving to build.

Regardless of what has happened in the past, Shanghai's recent pledge to give priority to public transport and bike lanes is finally a step in the right direction.

Other Chinese cities that have yet to do so will now hopefully follow suit.

Just imagine that by 2010, Shanghai will have a total of 400 kilometers of subway lines. Driving a private car would surely not be that necessary in downtown areas, as is the case in many other major international cities.

It is also exciting to visualize Shanghai's bike lane blueprint, in which cyclists no longer have to worry about which way to go or being stopped and fined by traffic police for using lanes that no longer belong to them.

However, Shanghai's blueprint could be more thrilling for the city's bikers if they didn't have to wait until 2020 to see it materialize.

Nothing in Shanghai should really take 13 years to build not the Inner Ring Road, nor the Outer Ring Road, nor even the hundreds of kilometers of subways.

The only thing that took 13 years to build in Shanghai was the vast area of farmland over the Huangpu River into today's futuristic Pudong New Area. That massive construction could probably be translated into thousands of bike lanes.

If we can turn the bike lane blueprint into a reality much sooner with the well-known supersonic Shanghai speed, we could avoid many more tragic traffic accidents. We could also contribute to the city's air quality and the health of local residents.

After all, cyclists and pedestrians in Shanghai and the rest of the "Bicycle Kingdom" deserve a safe space in which to cycle and walk. The roads that once belonged to them should be returned to them as soon as possible.

(China Daily 04/28/2007 page4)