Shenzhens hate and love relationship with bikes

**Theres no doubt about it: Shenzhen has a bipolar relationship with bicycles and motorcycles. **

Foreigners end up in jail for riding a motorcycle without a license, so it's best to follow the law. Foreigners must have a Z visa or a student visa, or F visas no less than three months to apply for a driver's license. Bicycles are legal and accepted. However there are a lack of bike paths in major freeways that you'll see folks with E-bikes on the roads.

**Motorcycles and scooters are banned in Shenzhen, although you'll see them from time to time. **Usually its the police that are allowed to ride on them.

Shenzhen isn't really the most bike-friendly city. There are a few scenic routes and bike paths but overall the roads are for vehicles and pedestrians.

pile of ofo bikes, image by Reuters

Bicycles are everywhere. When I mean everywhere I mean you see many parked and trashed on the streets. These rental bicycles have caused many piles you'll see when commuting. Costs are so cheap that they even get stolen by having their QR codes scratched off.

E-bikes aren't new here. Most of them are manufactured here and are promoted for their zero-emission transportation. E-bikes are also very much affordable. The biggest issue is that they are banned sadly. Why is that? Because lots of crime usually happens in this case, and criminals have a quick getaway.

E-bikes are banned, but the laws aren't enforced. Usually they are confiscated once or twice a year to meet a quota. This has impacted courier services such as Shunfeng.

Overall, shenzhen still has a traffic problem for such a small city. The roads are saturated with cars all throughout the day. It makes sense they would ban E-bikes, too much convenience would cause even more commuting issues for the long-run.