北京電動自行車卷入一場公路“階級斗爭”

BEIJING — A squeal of breaks, the screech of ripping metal and a battery-powered, three-wheel scooter — top-heavy with parcels for delivery — tips over after hitting a car. The courier picks himself up as the driver jumps out of his car, shouting and pointing at his vehicle’s shattered headlights.

北京——剎車聲和刺耳的金屬斷裂聲響起，一輛載滿包裹、頭重腳輕的電池動力三輪車在撞上一輛小汽車后翻倒在地?？爝f員從地上爬了起來;小汽車司機跳下車，指著被撞得粉碎的大燈大喊大叫。

It is another skirmish in the smoldering class war being waged on the roads of Beijing.

階級斗爭正以較為隱晦的方式在北京的馬路上演，而這不過是其中又一場小沖突。

The growing number of private car drivers is at odds with the millions of residents who ride two- and three-wheeled electric cycles. The conflict has stirred emotions about inequality in urban China, pitting wealthy drivers against the blue-collar workers who need the electric bikes to make a living.

數(shù)量日益增多的私家車司機和數(shù)百萬騎著兩輪或三輪電動自行車的居民之間時有摩擦。沖突激起了人們對中國城市不平等問題的情緒，并讓富有的私家車司機和以電動自行車為謀生工具的藍領(lǐng)工人站在了對立面上。

“We’re just scapegoats,” said Liu Xiaoyan, an electric bike courier, who watched the aftermath of the crash, at an intersection in northeast Beijing. “They always say that electric bikes are the road killers, but the cars are the real killers.”

“我們只是替罪羊，”騎電動自行車送貨的劉小燕說，“他們總是說電動自行車是馬路殺手，但小汽車才是真正的殺手。”劉小燕在北京東北部的一個十字路口目睹了事故發(fā)生后的狀況。

Electric bicycles have proliferated as a result of online sales and the demand for deliveries. Beijing and several other Chinese cities have moved to rein in the bikes, and some are considering outright bans.

網(wǎng)購的蓬勃發(fā)展催生了對快遞的需求，進而造成了電動自行車保有量的激增。北京以及中國的其他幾個城市已經(jīng)開始實施針對電動自行車的限制措施;還有一些城市正考慮將其完全取締。

The steps have been welcomed by car drivers who fume at cyclists who buzz through red lights and ride against traffic. Pedestrians also complain that the bikes honk noisily and take up sidewalks.

這些舉措受到了小汽車司機的歡迎，騎著電動自行車闖紅燈或逆行的人讓他們感到惱火。行人也抱怨說，電動車會大聲鳴喇叭，而且會占用人行道。

“I didn’t feel so unsafe cycling in Beijing before, but now you have all these food-delivery guys with very little training,” said Robert Earley, a Canadian entrepreneur working on clean transport initiatives in the capital. “In the past two years, I’ve been hit by bikes going the wrong way: one electric, one a motorbike.”

“以前我并不覺得在北京騎行是這么的不安全，但現(xiàn)在你得面對這些根本沒怎么受過培訓(xùn)的送餐員，”致力于在北京推廣清潔交通項目的加拿大創(chuàng)業(yè)者羅伯特·厄雷(Robert Earley)說。“過去兩年間，我已經(jīng)被逆行的單車撞了兩次：一輛是電動自行車，一輛是摩托車。”

But electric bike owners and industry representatives said the bikes were being unfairly maligned for problems caused by the fact that there are too many cars. They have a point: In Beijing, cars often clog bike lanes and use sidewalks as parking lots with impunity.

但電動自行車車主及行業(yè)代表稱，讓電動自行車受到不公正指責(zé)的很多問題，都是由小汽車太多引發(fā)的。他們的話不無道理：在北京，小汽車常常把自行車道堵住，或把人行道當(dāng)成停車場，并且不會受到懲罰。

“The motor vehicles have occupied all the lanes for electric bikes, so they have no place to go,” said Ma Guilong, a retired professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who is one of the country’s experts on electric vehicles.

“本屬于電動自行車的所有車道都被機動車占用了，所以它們無路可走，”中國電動自行車領(lǐng)域的專家、北京清華大學(xué)退休教授馬貴龍說。

“Many times I’ve been obediently riding in the bike lane and suddenly hit by a car,” Professor Ma said. “I’ve taken quite a few tumbles like that.”

“有好些回，我在自行車道上騎得好好的，突然就被小汽車撞了，”馬貴龍說。“我就這樣摔過好些次跤。”

Electric bikes have been a boon to online retailers. The bikes are popular with couriers, mostly migrants from the countryside, who speed deliveries through congested roads. When Shenzhen, a city in southern China, started impounding oversize or unregistered bikes in March, companies there said their customers were irate about late deliveries.

電動自行車是線上零售商的福音。這種自行車頗受送貨員群體青睞，可以在擁擠的街道上穿行，幫助提高送貨速度。當(dāng)中國南方城市深圳從3月開始扣押尺寸過大或者未登記的電動自行車時，該市的一些企業(yè)稱，送貨延誤讓顧客怒火中燒。

“If there weren’t electric bikes, the logistics costs of e-commerce would rise,” said Guo Jinzhi, the chairwoman of the Beijing Bicycle Industry Association. “It would be very difficult for e-commerce to grow so quickly.”

“如果沒有電動自行車，電子商務(wù)的物流成本就會升高，”北京市自行車行業(yè)協(xié)會會長郭金枝說，“它就很難發(fā)展得這么快。”

Beijing’s streets are not the most anarchic in China. But the friction here is striking. Since ancient times the roads of the capital were meant to be an orderly, geometric reflection of control, and for decades the roads have been divided between main roads for the few cars and side lanes intended for the river of bicycles.

與中國的其他城市相比，北京的街道并不是最混亂的。但這里發(fā)生的摩擦卻是驚人的。從古至今，秩序井然、形狀規(guī)整的北京街道本應(yīng)是控制力的體現(xiàn)。數(shù)十年來，這里的街道已經(jīng)被劃分成了主路和輔路，主路上跑的是數(shù)量相對較少的汽車，輔路則是為成群的自行車準(zhǔn)備的。

But riding on the busiest roads now can feel like a slowed-down scene from “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a churning cavalcade of cars, motorcycles, pedal and electric bikes, scooters, skateboarders, battery-powered micro-cars, Segway-like transporters and pedestrians who rely on sheer force of numbers to push through intersections.

但現(xiàn)在，在北京最繁忙的路段騎行，會感覺正置身于《瘋狂麥克斯：狂暴之路》(Mad Max: Fury Road)的某個場景中，只不過速度不那么快：小汽車、摩托車、腳踏式電動自行車、踏板車、滑板車、電池動力微型汽車、賽格威(Segway)式的交通工具，以及靠著人多勢眾強行通過十字路口的行人，全都攪和在一起。

Cars perform abrupt U-turns and lane switches that defy regulations and the basic instincts of safety. Buses barge in and out of lanes.

小汽車會突然來個180度的大轉(zhuǎn)彎或者變換車道，完全不顧交通規(guī)則，也有悖基本的安全本能。公共汽車會突然進入或離開某個車道。

“The traffic rules can be a hassle. We have to get around fast or the customers complain,” Wang Jinchun, 25, a fast-food courier, said as he loaded his bike with two batteries, each the size of a large shoe box.

“交通規(guī)則是個麻煩，我們必須盡快到達，否則顧客會投訴，”25歲的送餐員王晉春邊說邊往電動自行車上裝貨。車上安有兩組電池，每組的尺寸都和一個大鞋盒差不多。

“But the cars are very dangerous, especially at night. Every day you feel that you are playing with your life,” Mr. Wang said, before riding off down the wrong side of a road.

“但路上的汽車十分危險，尤其是到了夜里。每天都感覺在玩命，”說完，王晉春逆行而去。

Chinese cities were far more sedate when bicycles ruled the road. Electric bikes first went on sale in 1995, but remained a novelty in a sea of pedaled bicycles.

在自行車主宰道路的時代，中國的城市比現(xiàn)在平靜很多。電動自行車于1995年首次上市，但在腳踏自行車的汪洋大海里，它們一度是稀罕物。

Beijing now has 5.7 million motor vehicles on its roads, even with restrictions on new sales. The city has up to 2.5 million electric bicycles, and that number grows by 300,000 each year, said Ms. Guo, of the bicycle association. There are also hundreds of thousands of unregistered three-wheeled electric scooters, although the government tried to ban them in 2014.

目前，在新采取了某些限售措施的情況下，北京的機動車保有量已經(jīng)達到570萬輛。據(jù)北京市自行車行業(yè)協(xié)會會長郭金枝介紹，該市的電動自行車保有量則為250萬輛，每年新增30萬輛。這里還有數(shù)十萬輛未登記的電動踏板三輪車，盡管市政府在2014年曾試圖將其取締。

“Over the past few years, they’ve become the main driver of urbanization in China,” said Ni Jie, the chairman of Luyuan Electric Vehicles, an electric bike manufacturer in eastern China, and a vocal defender of the industry. “It’s become a major mode of transport for the newly employed in China and workers from the countryside.”

“過去幾年里，它們已經(jīng)成為中國城市化進程的主要驅(qū)動力，”發(fā)聲捍衛(wèi)電動車行業(yè)的綠源電動車公司董事長倪捷說。綠源是中國東南部的一家電動車制造商。

The bikes cost just a few hundred dollars, no license is required, and only a few owners ever bother to register them.

只花幾百美元就可以買一輛電動自行車，不需要獲得駕駛執(zhí)照，而且只有少數(shù)車主愿意去為它們辦理登記手續(xù)。

“They’re a menace,” said Xing Dayong, a taxi driver who had just aimed a string of curses at a cyclist who swerved in front of his car. “They’re fast, they go the wrong way, and they don’t make a sound.”

“它們是一大威脅，”出租車司機邢大勇說這話前，剛剛連聲咒罵過一個在其車前急轉(zhuǎn)彎的騎行者。“它們速度快，逆行，還沒聲音。”

The central government keeps promising to do something, but appears mired by indecision. The standards that govern electric bicycles were introduced in 1999, but most new bikes violate the limits for speed, weight and battery size.

中央政府一直承諾要有所作為，但卻顯得優(yōu)柔寡斷。電動自行車行業(yè)的管理標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是在1999年推出的，但大多數(shù)新出產(chǎn)的電動自行車都違反了速度、重量、電池尺寸等方面的限制性規(guī)定。

By law, bikes can travel at a maximum speed of about 13 miles per hour, and weigh no more than about 90 pounds. But many bikes are much heavier, and souped-up models can reach almost 40 miles per hour, according to a recent test by a Beijing newspaper. The government has never set standards for the bigger and faster three-wheelers.

按照相關(guān)法規(guī)，電動自行車的最高時速不能超過13英里，整車重量不能大于90磅。但許多電動車都比這重得多;北京的一家報紙最近的測試結(jié)果顯示，增加了馬力的車型時速甚至可以超過40英里。政府從未就體型更大、速度更快的三輪車制定標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

Instead, cities are taking action. The Beijing government revealed in March that electric bikes were involved in 113 fatalities last year, or 12 percent of the recorded traffic deaths, and 21,423 injuries, 37 percent of the injury total.

不過，一些城市正采取行動。北京市政府于今年3月透露，去年，該市發(fā)生的涉及電動自行車的事故，共造成113人死亡，2.14萬余人受傷，分別占全市總數(shù)的12%和37%。

In April, Beijing banned electric bikes and three-wheelers from 10 stretches of road, including parts of Chang’an Avenue, the main thoroughfare. Bike owners and makers said they were worried that Beijing would copy Chinese cities that had imposed harsher restrictions.

北京從今年4月份開始禁止電動自行車和三輪車在10條道路上行駛，其中包括主干道長安街的部分路段。電動自行車車主和制造商稱，他們擔(dān)心北京會效仿那些采取了最嚴(yán)厲的限制措施的中國城市。

Shenzhen cracked down in March on electric cycles that are unregistered or deemed too big. Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, has been considering a proposal to ban the riding or selling of electric bikes in much of the city. Critics have gone online to denounce the restrictions as a means of discriminating against migrant workers.

深圳在今年3月針對未注冊或被認(rèn)為尺寸過大的電動自行車開展了整治活動。廣東省會廣州正考慮出臺一項在該市大部分地區(qū)禁騎或禁售電動自行車的條例。批評人士在網(wǎng)上譴責(zé)稱，上述種種限制是對農(nóng)民工的歧視。

“There’s no way to control them,” said Wu Ziguo, a migrant worker who rides a three-wheeler to deliver water-cooler bottles in Beijing. “If you try to restrict how people make a living, you’ll discover that the whole city depends on couriers for food, water, every need.”

“根本限制不了，”在北京騎三輪車送桶裝水的吳子國(音)說。“你要限制老百姓謀生，會發(fā)現(xiàn)整座城市樣樣都離不開送貨的，送餐送水，什么都是。”