As I look out of my window now, I see a layer of thick smog clinging to the buildings around the city. My journey to and from work has become longer and longer due to traffic jams, not only at the usual peak times as my work hours are quite flexible, but it seems at other random times of the day. The overpasses are choked and the residents are choking.

Yet, what have I been reading recently? That Shanghai City has plans to ban bicycles from the city centre. I did a double-take when I first read that! Why the innocent bicycle? Bicycles are noiseless, unless they are rusty old rattlers like my last one, or the owner has an obsession with the bell, which does cover a lot of the cyclists in this fair city.

They are small, and therefore don't take up a lot of space to store or park. If you get hit by a bicycle, you are unlikely to die. I once hit a woman walking alongside the Thames in London. She was a little winded and very irate, and I was a bit battered as was my bicycle, but no fatalities. Not even close.

Bicycles don't make you fat. They are egalitarian because people on vastly differing incomes can afford them. Most beautiful of all, bicycles are clean. There ain't no exhaust coming out of those babies. In contrast, the evil automotive monster boasts none of these qualities.

Let's take a look at some other cities in the world in comparison. In Denmark, cars have been banned from the centre of Copenhagen. Car parks were torn down to provide more parks and pedestrian areas. Bicycles are parked in special areas which are watched over by attendants, so your bike doesn't get nicked. Roads into the city are wide and relatively car free. Everyone rides bicycles. The Danes are also very good looking. This may not be a direct correlation with their bike riding habits, but I like to think so.

In London, Mayor Ken Livingston introduced the very controversial toll on cars that enter the city centre. Actually, I missed the arrival of this law, and so I have not seen the results. However, having to pay five pounds (around 75 yuan) every day has got to be a deterrent to some. Outside of London, for example in Oxford, there is a system called "Park and Ride" where commuters are encouraged to park their cars outside the city and then catch specially arranged buses in. In Mexico City, cars are banned from driving on alternate days depending on their car registration number. In Utrecht in Holland, "taxi-trains" reduce the cost and the pollution of taxis by waiting until a number of people going the same way arrive and fill up the taxi.

People in London complain bitterly about their Underground rail system, and it is rather outdated and prone to breakdowns, but for the number of people that it moves every day and the places you can get to on it, it's doing pretty well in my books.

In contrast, in my hometown Sydney, it is still very troublesome to get around on public transport. One of my friends lives around 15-20 minutes' drive from my home. In order to get to her home by public transport, I have to take a bus in completely the opposite direction to the city centre, and then back out again to her suburb. People in Sydney rely heavily on their cars. The key point here, is that with an efficient, regular and regulated public transport system, you can also get away without having a car. Believe me, I lived in London for four and a half years without a car (or a bike) and got wherever I wanted to go with relative ease.

Banning bicycles is probably the strangest thing I have heard for a long time and is a surprisingly short-sighted idea for a city that is aiming to be modern and progressive. Vive la bicyclette!

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