Do you sick of bad traffics here in Bangkok? Several times, I had to abandon my car or got off the cabs and took a motorcycle ride instead, in order to get to my destination in time. However, motorcycles are very dangerous and bicycles are even more dangerous in Bangkok, as we saw on the news, buses often crash bikes and drag them along the road. Then, when I read this article I thought it would be interesting, since Beijing is very famous as the kingdom of bicycles, now look at the dramatically change that has been happening to the city! This article is from the BBC News and called "Beijingers get back on their bikes ".
After economic development in China, people in Beijing became richer and they started to own cars instead of bicycles. The consequence of that is traffic jams become typical and now people turn back to the two wheels vehicle again, yet, this time the new version with rechargeable battery packs in it. This is when another problem arises, what should the government do to control and organize this kind of vehicle. Electric bike is something in between, it’s not car, though, it’s not as easy to own and maintain as bicycle. Now that electric bike becomes extremely popular, even if it’s friendly with environment, the government is still struggling about how to define it. If it is not defined, electric bikes would be very varied and it can be out of control, for instance, should the owners register theirs?
I just think that maybe electric bikes would be useful in Bangkok, too. However, apart from the part of energy source, I’m quite confused about the different between electric bikes and motorcycles. As I was reading, in the part that is about the defining of electric bike there is an issue about the speed of the vehicle, the example of the definition is that it should not be faster than 20km/hr, which is relatively slow comparing with motorcycles. Then, electric bike is not much faster than bikes but more convenient, no more use of pedals and physical power, it would be useful as replacement of bikes. Thus, on second thought, electric bike is not an ultimate solution for bad traffic in Bangkok, it would be too slow for the hurried life of Thai. My speculation is that it might even cause more troubles, since people would buy and use it easily without any control by the government and it might even be popular, at least more popular than bicycle, because we, Bangkokers, are a bit lazy when it comes to transportation, we always take the easiest and fastest way. Then, more accidents using electric bikes is my guess, and I have a sense that it’s about right.
After economic development in China, people in Beijing became richer and they started to own cars instead of bicycles. The consequence of that is traffic jams become typical and now people turn back to the two wheels vehicle again, yet, this time the new version with rechargeable battery packs in it. This is when another problem arises, what should the government do to control and organize this kind of vehicle. Electric bike is something in between, it’s not car, though, it’s not as easy to own and maintain as bicycle. Now that electric bike becomes extremely popular, even if it’s friendly with environment, the government is still struggling about how to define it. If it is not defined, electric bikes would be very varied and it can be out of control, for instance, should the owners register theirs?
I just think that maybe electric bikes would be useful in Bangkok, too. However, apart from the part of energy source, I’m quite confused about the different between electric bikes and motorcycles. As I was reading, in the part that is about the defining of electric bike there is an issue about the speed of the vehicle, the example of the definition is that it should not be faster than 20km/hr, which is relatively slow comparing with motorcycles. Then, electric bike is not much faster than bikes but more convenient, no more use of pedals and physical power, it would be useful as replacement of bikes. Thus, on second thought, electric bike is not an ultimate solution for bad traffic in Bangkok, it would be too slow for the hurried life of Thai. My speculation is that it might even cause more troubles, since people would buy and use it easily without any control by the government and it might even be popular, at least more popular than bicycle, because we, Bangkokers, are a bit lazy when it comes to transportation, we always take the easiest and fastest way. Then, more accidents using electric bikes is my guess, and I have a sense that it’s about right.
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References
Bistow. M(2010, March 11), Beijingers get back on their bike, BBC News. retrieved on March 11, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8538221.stm
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