CHINA: BEIJING: STREET MADE A BICYCLE FREE ZONE

Mandarin/Nat While cities in other parts of the world are trying to encourage pollution free transport, the Chinese capital appears to be peddling in the other direction. This week Beijing for the first time made one of its streets a bicycle-free zone to allow cars more room. On a busy weekday morning this street in the heart of Beijing would normally be bustling with bicycles of every description. But no longer. Bicycles have been banned and the lanes have been given over to cars and buses instead. Police and street committee members stand at either end of the road turning away cyclists. Many cyclists appeared confused and somewhat annoyed by the new inconvenience. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) "What can I say, of course its unfair, but you have to obey the regulation, its a matter of principle." SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop, Cyclist While the cyclists appeared confused, car drivers had nothing but praise for the change. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) "Now its much better. When you're driving through here the pedestrians and other people on the road don't interfere with the motor vehicles." SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop, Car driver, Beijing, China Taxis, company cars and the private cars owned by the newly affluent have crammed Beijing's streets in the last few years. But Beijing's 9 (m) million bicycles are still the most popular mode of transportation. Cars in a hurry to cut through traffic jams dodge into cycle lanes a push their way through the mass of bicycles at intersections. Beijing cyclists seem to take it all in stride, weaving in and out of traffic in a slow, steady glide. But it is a chaotic combination, which traffic police complain is almost impossible to manage properly. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) "If they were all motor vehicles it would be easy to control, if they were all bicycles it would also be easy to control, it the mixture of the two that causes all the problems." SUPER CAPTION: Traffic policeman, Beijing, China With congestion on Beijing's roads worsening by the week, it now looks possible that many more streets where the bicycle was once king could soon be pedal free zones. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/286accd12d8b7c219859bdf57195de3f Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork