Transport authorities are planning a range of improvements to slow lanes on the capital's roads, a move aimed at encouraging the use of bicycles.

Beijing Commission of Transport and the city's traffic management bureau said on Tuesday that improvements made this year will be near subway lines 4, 5 and 6 and at crossroads along the second and third ring roads.

Car parking spaces along the right-hand side of the slow lane will be moved to the left, so that cyclists won't find the lane blocked by cars cutting across it to access parking spaces, Beijing Daily reported.

Meanwhile, structures such as bus stations and telegraph poles that interrupt the flow of traffic will be removed.

With these efforts, the municipal transport authority aims to raise the number of journeys by bicycle to 23 percent by 2015, up from the current rate of less than 20 percent.

Beijing, once dubbed the"Bicycle Kingdom", has witnessed a sharp drop in the use of bikes in recent years. The rate stood at 62.7 percent in the 1980s, according to official statistics.

Research by the transport commission last year showed that among the city's 361 key roads, nearly 300 have lanes for bicycles and pedestrians, but many of them have design defects and fail to serve their function properly.

Many residents said they had bad experiences while using slow lanes. For example, bike lanes were often occupied by motor vehicles, or blocked by a bus station.

China Daily

(China Daily USA 07/18/2013 page5)