The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau (BTMB) announced on Monday that all two-wheel electric vehicles are banned on 10 of Beijing’s streets starting next Monday
The announcement says the ban is to ensure traffic flow and safety. Electric two-wheel vehicles including e-scooters and e-bikes cannot be driven on ten streets including major east-west thoroughfares Chang’an Jie, Jianwai Dajie and Fuxing Lu. Several streets around central Beijing’s Tiananmen Square are also affected.
Because most food delivery services use e-bikes, the new restrictions could possibly have an impact on food delivery companies.
Food delivery service giant Ele.me has responded to the policy saying it will have an effect on the company but that they will take measures including using other vehicles such as cars or bypassing those ten streets, NetEase news reported. Additionally, Baidu’s food delivery subsidiary Baidu Waimai and takeout delivery service Meituan Waimai also responded saying they will come up with new methods for completing deliveries.
Beijing isn’t the only city that has implemented restrictions on two- or three-wheel vehicles, electric or not. In March 2016, Shenzhen made several crackdowns on motorcycles and e-bikes. By the end of March, they held 18,000 e-bikes and detained 874 people including 50 couriers, according to Shenzhen Economic Daily.
Shenzhen’s action had an impact on some logistics companies. The newspaper quoted a courier from Alibaba-backed YTO Express saying that their daily capacity for parcel delivery decreased by 10,000 pieces.
(Photos from Baidu Images)
