Great news coming out of Beijing: The horrific air pollution there has inspired the local government to implement a slew of great reforms and initiatives to get people out of their cars, and onto their bikes. Biking in China is back!Thanks to a growing middle-class and its best friends surburban sprawl, urban development, and car culture, it’s nice to see a return to tradition of sorts-the good kind.According to the City Fix, Beijing has announced that it will amend regulations that have discouraged bike use, and will discourage car ownership through new restrictions (adding on to the ones already in place), increase bike parking stations, up the number of bikes available for rent, and will restore ruined bike lanes.And thank god. Because twenty years ago, four in five Beijingers got around on bikes, but between 1995 and 2005, the number of bikers decreased by 35 percent.Via Streetsblog; Image (CC) by Flickr user Joostvanderpost
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