Guangzhou City Bans Motorbikes

For a person who has not visited mainland China yet, I imagine that motorcycles would disproportionately account for the transportation needs of Chinese citizens in the cities. This claim finds confirmation in admittedly dated data showing that the proportion of motorcycles among registered vehicles grew from 23.4% in 1987 to 63.2% in 2001. China’s export success is also driven by significant exports of motorcycles and this is considered an intermediate step towards the manufacture and assembly of automobiles.

New York Times reports the curious fact therefore that Guangzhou, one of the most successful of China’s export cities has announced a ban on motorcycles and motorized bicycles. The main reason for the ban is that these forms of motorized transportation are contributing to crime and insecurity. This strikes me as a very casual approach to crafting public policy for a city that has seen this level of unprecedented growth. Migrant workers, whose low incomes are partly responsible for the China’s export capability, are most likely going to be adversely affected. The preferable approach would have been to concentrate on reducing crimes by catching criminals as opposed to the blunt instrument of attacking motorbikes because purse snatchers happen to ride on them. Credit though to the city it opted to offer modest cash in exchange for surrender of the motorcycles. This is a dangerous and ill-informed mixture of social and economic policies. Apart from generating a huge scrap yard, I am certain that this policy is wrong-headed. I will keep an eye on its effects.