Beijing: Bike lanes just built, but motor vehicles encroach

Recently, Beijing has introduced multiple measures to encourage non-motorized travel, including upgrading model bike lanes, laying out colored bike paths, and densely releasing new bike parking spaces in districts such as Xicheng and Dongcheng.

Known as the “Kingdom of Bicycles,” how convenient is cycling in Beijing really? Yesterday afternoon, reporters took separate bike rides to experience some of Beijing’s bike lanes.

Although many road sections have properly marked bike lanes, during actual cycling, many bike lanes are still not continuous, smooth, or convenient.

In summary, there are five major problems with bike lanes: bike lane interruptions on some road sections, bike lanes being occupied by motor vehicles, mixed cycling and driving, cyclists having to “detour” to reach their destinations, and difficulties finding bike parking.

The Municipal Road Administration Bureau stated that it is quite common for bike lanes to be occupied or squeezed by parked motor vehicles, and moreover, due to unclear delineation of road rights, the safety of non-motorized vehicles on bike lanes cannot be guaranteed.

The Municipal Commission of Transport recently announced the first batch of demonstration road sections for walking and cycling systems. Four roads along Line 5 of the subway—Tiantan East Road, Chongwenmen Outer Street, Chongwenmen Inner Street, and Dongdan North Street—have become demonstration roads. According to the setup of the demonstration sections, non-motorized vehicles will be “safely separated” from motor vehicles and will no longer mix.

After becoming a demonstration road section, a row of “separation barriers” less than one meter wide was added in the center of the auxiliary road between Chongwai Street and Tiantan Road. However, the “barriers” are not continuously laid out but are instead divided into four segments, spaced about 50 meters apart, each less than 100 meters long. After the cement “barriers” were built, the original isolation guardrails were removed.

A traffic officer at the intersection to the south of the road section said that before the “barriers” were installed, the bike lane was wider than it is now, but it was common to see mixed traffic between motor vehicles and non-motorized vehicles.

Despite the new bike lane being narrower, several motor vehicles are still parked on the bike lane, while the motor vehicle lane sees a mix of bicycles, tricycles, and motor vehicles traveling together.

Some road sections may have clearly defined bike lanes and motor vehicle lanes, but in practice, the two can intersect and “clash,” even posing safety hazards.

Yesterday afternoon, a reporter cycled northward along the east side of Anding Road. While crossing from the inner side of the Fourth Ring Road to the outer westbound side, the reporter observed that a roundabout had been set up under Anhui Bridge, consisting of an inner and outer “double layer”—the inner layer for motor vehicles and the outer for cyclists, with clear routes.

However, when the reporter tried to cycle from the south side of the roundabout to the northwest corner, they encountered three “obstacles”—on the outer southeast corner of the roundabout’s bike lane, cyclists would come face-to-face with motor vehicles exiting the auxiliary road on the south side of the Fourth Ring Road; at the northeast corner of the roundabout, cyclists would “collide” with motor vehicles heading north onto Anli Road; and at the northwest corner, they would encounter motor vehicles exiting the auxiliary road on the north side of the Fourth Ring Road.

Every cyclist riding around the roundabout had to “weave and dodge” among motor vehicles, sometimes needing to stop to avoid them, and wait when motor vehicle traffic was dense.

Location: Beichen Road, Chaoyang Road
500-meter bike lane turned into a bus parking lot

Even on properly set-up bike lanes, there are many instances of motor vehicles parking and occupying the space.

On the west side of Beichen Road, all three lanes of the auxiliary road have been turned into a “parking lot” for tourist buses, packed with three rows of buses in various colors. The reporter roughly estimated that about 500 meters from north to south, nearly 100 buses were parked, completely occupying the bike lane, making it impossible for cyclists to pass even by “squeezing through gaps.”

At around 6 p.m., Mr. Li, who lives on Gulou Outer Street, cycled along Beichen Road and naturally ended up on the sidewalk. “The bike lane is unusable; I ride on the sidewalk every day.”

There are also road sections where bike lanes are occupied by private cars. On Chaoyang Road, from west to east, from Ciyunsi Bridge to the bus stop near Dongbaliuzhuang, the roadside is entirely parked with small cars, forcing cyclists to use the motor vehicle lane.

Due to road design reasons, some bike lanes may be “interrupted” halfway.

Yesterday, while cycling along the Fourth Ring Road from west to east and turning south onto Huixin West Street, the auxiliary road was divided into three lanes. The innermost lane was clearly marked with a bicycle symbol, and a row of white low railings was placed on the outer side of the lane, allowing the bike lane and motor vehicle lane to be “separated.”

But this row of railings only "continued" southward for about 100 meters before it was interrupted. Near the west side of Huixin Xijie, close to the Wumart hypermarket, an overpass spanning both sides of the street was installed, narrowing the roadway from three lanes to two. The innermost lane was no longer a bike lane but instead became a row of roadside parking spaces, while the outer lane remained open to motor vehicle traffic.

Cyclists at this point had only two options: either ride on the sidewalk or "weave" through motor vehicles in the outermost lane of the service road. It wasn’t until about 200 meters south that the bike lane "resumed."

When cycling through certain areas, riders often have to switch to "manual mode"—carrying their bikes up overpasses—otherwise they simply can’t get through. This is a common issue near ring roads and expressways.

Both the north gate of the Olympic Sports Center and the Bird’s Nest are located east of Beichen Bridge, facing each other across the road on the northern and southern sides of the North Fourth Ring. But when cycling from the north gate of the Olympic Sports Center to the Bird’s Nest, there are no overpasses or underpasses connecting the two points along the Fourth Ring.

The reporter had to cycle about one kilometer eastward first, and it wasn’t until nearing Anhui Bridge that an overpass linking the north and south sides of the Fourth Ring appeared. The reporter had to carry the bicycle across the overpass to "turn around," then cycle about one kilometer westward to finally approach the Bird’s Nest. This meant taking a roughly two-kilometer detour.

Additionally, there is another option: cycling against the flow of traffic on the service road south of the North Fourth Ring, under Beichen Bridge, heading east to west. This allows you to reach another overpass near Beichen West Bridge more quickly. This detour saves about one-third of the distance, but comes with significant safety risks—when cycling against traffic, you’ll be directly facing many motor vehicles turning south onto Beichen Road.

At the base of the Ginza Building in Dongzhimen, the reporter did not find any designated bicycle parking area for employees of the building. Only two rows of bike sheds were seen on one side of the building. The attendant said these were reserved for property management staff and were not open to employees of the companies inside.

Xiao Lü, who works in the building, told the reporter that he rides his bicycle to work every day and has no choice but to park it randomly downstairs, locking it to a railing in a corner.

On the sidewalks of the Dongzhimen bridge area, many unattended bicycles are simply left near the edges of the walkways, and over time this has become a common sight. They are even arranged in a relatively orderly fashion.