Bicycle graveyards

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/03/bike-share-oversupply-in-china-huge-piles-of-abandoned-and-broken-bicycles/556268/

I’ve recently had a similar comment about my shed

Well done once again, humans.

 a sudden flood of millions of shared bicycles.

Does that mean there actually are 9 million bicycles in Beijing?

Well done once again, humans.

Whilst the motives behind the rapid expansion weren’t altruistic, they were definitely in it to make money. At least the plan was to get the worlds largest country to get around by bikes. It’s like Mao’s “Four Pests Campaign” (a good idea that turned into an ecological disaster), when China by virtue of its sheer scale decides to do something the results can be enormous, both good and bad.  Imagine if it had worked as intended and 1.4Billion people had all ditched cars, buses, metros and trams and embraced bikes?

Imagine if it had worked as intended and 1.4Billion people had all ditched cars, buses, metros and trams and embraced bikes?

You’d need a slightly bigger scrap heap. And scrappies would be billionaires

Cars, you say?

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1H50GQ?__twitter_impression=true

Pinkster 🙂

Bin dun don’tcha know

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anyone-need-a-spare-bike-frame-bits-theres-a-few-here

Insane.

China is like a huge animal, all consuming.

While we sit sit back and consume what it churns out.

Personally I think this century is make or break for humanity.

Either we go into a rapid and violent decline or we finally get our crap together.

Against all odds I want to be hopeful…

All those bikes, and yet there’s a picture of a worker ‘repairing ‘ one (with an angle grinder).

Reminds me of the utter craziness of the VW graveyards in the US because of the emissions scandal.  350,000 cars forced to be bought back because they aren’t quite as efficient as they were meant to be has got to be the most ironically terrible piece of environmental thinking going.

350,000 cars.

This diesel only does 55mpg when it’s meant to do 59mpg.  That is terrible for the environment, let’s scrap the whole thing.  Well done us, again!

Oh come on! Let’s not let good old common sense get in the way of doctrine.

And VW are now proposing to offer a buy back scheme in Germany if new emission reduction zones are introduced. Absolute madness.

On the subject of the bikes I wonder if the charity that provides bikes to villagers in Africa could benefit from this?