Cyclists and E-bikes sharing a bike tunnel in Beijing.
One night in Chengdu while sitting amongst a group of cyclists, someone asked us in mock seriousness, “E-bikes: friends or enemies?” (e-bikes is short for electric bikes). We unanimously replied that e-bikes were allies, not enemies. E-bikes in China are small electric bikes that are about the same size as a bicycle, and generally go slower than a moderately paced cyclist (which always made me wonder why people bought them over bicycles in the first place… I think it has to do with getting sweaty riding a bike). E-bikes share the bike lanes, but because they are about the same pace it was never a problem. If you ask cyclists in Beijing “Who is the enemy?” they would probably answer taxis or cars, not e-bikes.
Since arriving in Indonesia, I’ve been thinking about this question a lot. It’s different here because instead of the road being populated with almost equal parts e-bikes and bicycles, as the roads are in China, the roads have more motorcycles than cars or cyclists combined (as you can glimpse in my last video). It really changes the dynamics of traffic on the road. Cyclists I talked to in Jakarta unanimously condemned motorcycles as the enemy – more than cars, more than buses, and even more than taxis.
I’ve felt unsettled by sharing the road with motorcycles here (and I realize that it isn’t just sharing with motorcycles, its sharing with this quantity of motorcycles), and I’ve been trying to figure out why that is. Then today it struck me that I have only learned how to be a defensive cyclist with cars, and it’s a whole other game being defensive with motorcycles. When riding with cars, my philosophy has always been to take the lane even if it meant that cars were inconvenienced. My mantra is that my safety is more important than someone else’s comfort. Ever since a friend told me to smile every time a car honked, I don’t feel intimidated when cars get pissed off that I’m taking the lane, because I know that I have every right to be there. Over the years I’ve learned how to control cars movement on the road by how I ride my bike. They are large vehicles that need large spaces to drive through. Motorcycles are different.
With motorcycles they only need a space a little wider than a bicycle to get through. I’m always of the mind to bike a 4-5 feet away from the curb so that I’m more visible, but here I’m getting passed by motorcycles on the left which I find really unsettling. With motorcycles, I’m getting pushed into parts of the road that I don’t want to ride on. The main problem is that there isn’t enough room on the road for everyone, and so we’re all competing for the same spaces. Since motorcycles and bicycles are often competing for a similar space, it makes the competition more direct. In Jogja most roads are single lanes of traffic in each direction, so it’s an understatement to say that its crowded.
For now, I’m just trying to figure out how to ride in a way that makes the motorcycles respect my space. I don’t really have any good advice yet. Mostly I just ring my bell really loudly all the time. It’s definitely helping and it’s the best strategy I can think of so far.
Woman On a Wheel 