Post by RDMC-Butch on Jun 2, 2008 0:57:04 GMT -5
Bikers fail to stick with LPG
SHANGHAI DAILY 2008-6-2
DESPITE the two-year-old ban on gasoline-powered motorbikes, some bikers can't find enough clean LPG to fill up their tanks and are switching back to polluting gas.
Gasoline-powered motorbikes have been banned citywide since January 2006 to improve air quality, and cyclists were required to switch from gasoline-powered motorbikes to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) ones by the end of 2005.
However, a short supply of LPG in filling stations is undercutting the environmental policy. Of the city's 112 LPG filling stations, only 70 are operating, according to a recent Guangming Daily report.
"The lack of gas stations around the Outer Ring Road has forced some moped riders to change their LPG motorbikes back into gasoline-fueled ones, even though they know it's illegal," said an attendant at a gas station who declined to be named.
Hu, a motorbike rider at a filling station on Jiaoji Road, said he had passed three gas stations to buy LPG to fill his tank.
At another station 3 kilometers away, about 20 motorbike drivers waited in a queue to fill their tanks.
Those cyclists can pay 200 yuan (US$28) to 300 yuan to convert the LPG-fueled engines to gasoline-powered at service stands.
"Remove the gas cylinder, install the oil cylinder, change the way the pipe goes and that's it," said Zhou Xindao, a stand owner in Yichuan Moped Accessories Town in Putuo District. "It could be done within two hours."
The city government stopped issuing license plates for new motorbikes in August 1996, when registered motorbikes numbered 496,000. In 2000, new alternative LPG-powered motorbikes went on the market. From 2002, registered motorbike riders could trade their old tanks for LPG ones at retailers. About 98,000 gasoline motorbikes were ordered scrapped, while owners got a subsidy to buy a new LPG one by the end of 2005. The government banned gasoline motorbikes on roads in 2006.
Gasoline-powered motorbikes once accounted for 20 percent of the city's carbon monoxide pollution and almost 30 percent of hydrocarbon pollution.
Emissions contain 100 chemicals, said a report by the Medical College of Fudan University.
Using gasoline instead of LPG doesn't save money. But some cyclists valued convenience more. "Compared to so many gasoline stations, there are far too few LPG stations for us cyclists," Hu said.
SHANGHAI DAILY 2008-6-2
DESPITE the two-year-old ban on gasoline-powered motorbikes, some bikers can't find enough clean LPG to fill up their tanks and are switching back to polluting gas.
Gasoline-powered motorbikes have been banned citywide since January 2006 to improve air quality, and cyclists were required to switch from gasoline-powered motorbikes to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) ones by the end of 2005.
However, a short supply of LPG in filling stations is undercutting the environmental policy. Of the city's 112 LPG filling stations, only 70 are operating, according to a recent Guangming Daily report.
"The lack of gas stations around the Outer Ring Road has forced some moped riders to change their LPG motorbikes back into gasoline-fueled ones, even though they know it's illegal," said an attendant at a gas station who declined to be named.
Hu, a motorbike rider at a filling station on Jiaoji Road, said he had passed three gas stations to buy LPG to fill his tank.
At another station 3 kilometers away, about 20 motorbike drivers waited in a queue to fill their tanks.
Those cyclists can pay 200 yuan (US$28) to 300 yuan to convert the LPG-fueled engines to gasoline-powered at service stands.
"Remove the gas cylinder, install the oil cylinder, change the way the pipe goes and that's it," said Zhou Xindao, a stand owner in Yichuan Moped Accessories Town in Putuo District. "It could be done within two hours."
The city government stopped issuing license plates for new motorbikes in August 1996, when registered motorbikes numbered 496,000. In 2000, new alternative LPG-powered motorbikes went on the market. From 2002, registered motorbike riders could trade their old tanks for LPG ones at retailers. About 98,000 gasoline motorbikes were ordered scrapped, while owners got a subsidy to buy a new LPG one by the end of 2005. The government banned gasoline motorbikes on roads in 2006.
Gasoline-powered motorbikes once accounted for 20 percent of the city's carbon monoxide pollution and almost 30 percent of hydrocarbon pollution.
Emissions contain 100 chemicals, said a report by the Medical College of Fudan University.
Using gasoline instead of LPG doesn't save money. But some cyclists valued convenience more. "Compared to so many gasoline stations, there are far too few LPG stations for us cyclists," Hu said.