THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NON-MOTORISED TRANSPORT FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: STRATEGIES FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT

ed from: Communication with the Road User – Farida Saad (1998) Non-motorised transport in developing countries final report 80 level of intervention (i.e. urban areas – city – route – particular category of road network – neighbourhood – blackspot). The way of accident registration turns out to be not uniform (standardised), reliable and complete which makes it not only difficult to measure actual progress within the city or country, but also to compare between countries. The impact of measures will be therefore difficult to assess. A clearer, standardised form (which allows adjustments however) and in which use police officers are properly trained, is recommended. A further co-operation between the police, researchers and decision-makers should be promoted. 6.1. 3 Bicycle theft and lack of parking facilities In the local background studies, theft has been identified as an important deterrent factor. These comparative studies show that in all cities under review, theft is a significant and increasing problem. A household survey in 1995 reveals that in Ganghzou 3 bicycles were stolen on average per household in a time-frame of three years. A total of 3.4 million bicycles were missing in that same period. This finding is supported by new data indicating that 1,703 bicycles were stolen from 470 households during the last 5 years, an average of nearly 4 bicycles per household. The other cities are experiencing the problem of theft to a lesser extent: in Accra, Leon and Delhi respectively 17%, 20% and 28% of the interviewees had their bicycles stolen for at least one time. The effects on bicycle use are significant, since a considerable number of cyclists (up to 30% in Guangzhou) said they would stop cycling after getting their bike stolen. Low percentage of bike recovery (not more than 10%) and unwillingness of police to register theft probably support the idea of not buying another bicycle. These findings are very much in line with similar findings in Amsterdam, the Netherlands: bicycle theft is for many people a reason for not owning a bicycle or for using it less than desired. A significant number of people replaces the stolen bike with a poor quality bicycle. Thieves are generally not scared off by the vision of locks. Nearly all bicycles in the study that were stolen were locked and sometimes even parked in a guarded parking facility. However, parking facilities have turned out to be a rather good means against theft. Unfortunately, most cities do not have proper parking facilities: neither location, nor price is usually convenient for the bike users. Bicycle registration (at least, without effective control) turned out to be not a successful tool against bicycle theft as shows the case of Guangzhou. In Jiangmen City, where a new bicycle number plate practice is in place, results are different. First reports about the movable plate have been positive: police recorded a substantial decrease in thefts. The reasoning behind a bicycle registration system is that it would enable the police to identify stolen bicycles or to confirm rightful ownership. The condition for this however is twofold: the system should be set up in a way that regular checks are easy to do; and secondly, the police should put effort and time in actually executing these checks. In practice these conditions are not easy to fulfill. From all studies and the experience from the Netherlands we might conclude that parking the bicycle in guarded parking facilities prevents theft best. At one of the very few places in Lima where you can park your bike, i.e. the Catholic University, students have to show their ID before entering the university compound. So far, no single bike has been reported stolen. Rather few bicycles were stolen out of guarded parking facilities in Guangzhou. The best and most economic location for a parking facility is at major destinations (stations, markets, offices etc). The establishment of guarded parking facilities might turn feasible, especially when such a facility will have a multifunctional purpose, for instance bicycle repair shop or kiosk. A second best and very practical solution is to have solid bicycle parking facilities offering the opportunity to lock the bicycle to the facility. Such a provision is particularly relevant for destinations which do not attract enough numbers of cyclists, or where visits are too short to justify guarded bicycle parking. Besides, these bicycle parking facilities provide a reasonable solution for those cyclists who are reluctant to pay for guarding or find proceedings too time consuming. Non-motorised transport in developing countries final report 81 Table 19 Bicycle theft and location in cities under survey (in percentages) Location of theft Accra Delhi Guangzho u Leon Lima Residential area 24 n.a. 62 26 n.a. Office 8 n.a. 5.1 11 n.a. Market place 16 n.a. 33 16 n.a.