Beijing’s transitional period for exceeding standard electric bicycles is coming to an end, and many takeaways are still riding old bicycles
The countdown when changing cars, why is the takeaway guy still dragging?
Our reporter Chen Xi
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Beijing’s transition period for exceeding standard electric bicycles will end at the end of October, when non-compliant vehicles will face penalties on the road.
However, the reporter found that many takeaways are still riding old cars, and there are still people working on new cars.
Experts believe that the food delivery industry should take the initiative to adapt to the requirements of the new national standard, and platform companies should make corresponding adjustments to the assessment mechanism to build a more flexible and reasonable order dispatch system to help riders achieve a smooth transition.
According to the "Regulations of Beijing Municipality on the Administration of Non-motorized Vehicles", the three-year transition period for exceeding the standard electric bicycles will end on October 31 this year, when non-compliant vehicles will face penalties on the road.
However, a reporter from the Workers’ Daily found in a recent interview that only about 50% of the delivery staff had changed cars.
In accordance with the requirements of the new version of the "Safety Technical Specifications for Electric Bicycles" (hereinafter referred to as the "new national standard") released in 2018, the maximum speed of electric bicycles shall not exceed 25Km/h.
Due to the belief that "vehicle speed is directly proportional to delivery revenue," many takeaway riders are still waiting and waiting to give up their old cars, and some riders blindly pursue speed. After changing the car, they get the official white card first, and then modify the new car to increase the speed.
The countdown to change the car, is the takeaway boy's car compliant?
Many riders struggle with speed
For a long time, over-standard electric bicycles have enjoyed the speed and load of motorcycles, but they have not received corresponding guarantees such as driving licenses and paying insurance, which seriously threatens road traffic safety.
To this end, the new national standard further clarifies the classification standards for electric bicycles and motorcycles, and sets key indicators such as maximum speed, vehicle weight, and overall dimensions, aiming to comprehensively improve safety performance.
Recently, the Beijing electric bicycle market ushered in a wave of car swaps.
The reporter visited and found that, as a profession that relies heavily on electric bicycles, many escorts and takeaways have been slow to move, and yellow cards can be seen everywhere on the street with over-standard takeaway vehicles.
Ju Qiang, the person in charge of an electric bicycle store of a certain brand, told reporters that many riders came to the store to inquire, but very few actually bought a car.
"For flash delivery, food delivery and other industries, vehicle speed is directly linked to wages, and the thousands of yuan for changing vehicles is not a small amount."
"Only half of the people who change bikes around me, and many of those who buy new cars are still riding old ones, ready to drag them to the last minute." Meituan rider Zhang Weiqiang told reporters that his bike can reach 60Km/h after three years of riding.
"The new national standard car is undoubtedly safer, but the speed has suddenly slowed down, which means that income has also fallen."
"After changing the car, the salary was 30% off." Yan Yi, also a Meituan rider, rode a new car last month. He calculated an account for the reporter. "Before running for 12 hours a day, I could earn 300 yuan. This month Only one day has reached this level, other times it is around 220 yuan. According to my rider level, I used to be able to run 9 orders at the same time, but now I only dare to pick up 5."
The e-bike speeds down, and the evaluation standards of the platform have not changed as a result.
Yan Yi feels that even if there are fewer orders, there is no guarantee that there will be no overtime.
"The average delivery time for each order is 40 minutes. Taking into account factors such as delayed meal delivery, inaccurate navigation routes, and too long distance between the two orders, if you ride a slow car, the time will be tighter. Overtime will be necessary. With money being deducted, under pressure, sometimes even knowing the danger will run the red light."
Zhang Weiqiang had considered riding an electric motorcycle to deliver food, but soon discovered that it didn’t work: “I thought that although the procedures for riding an electric motorcycle are troublesome, at least you don’t have to worry about speed. It’s as unimpeded as an electric bicycle."
Playing cards first and then speeding up has become an unspoken rule
It is worth noting that although some take-out vehicles have been licensed, their speeds have clearly exceeded the upper limit stipulated by the new national standard, and they can even get rid of the motor vehicles.
In this regard, Ele.me rider Wang Jun didn't care, "It's all routine operations, it depends on your guts. After the procedures are completed, change the controller to unlock the speed limit, and there is no trace of it."
The reporter visited and found that in order to attract business, some stores would suggest that they could help speed up. In individual stores that sell vehicles of various brands, the takeaway boy can also enjoy "one-stop" service, including trade-in, licensing, speed limit, and exchange. Battery.
Compared with the "dark warehouses" of offline stores, the "new national standard speed up" online seems to be a hot business.
Searching for keywords on the e-commerce platform, you can find that there are dozens of related stores, the main products are decoding controllers, the average price is about 50 yuan, and rental services are also provided.
In addition, the store also has various tricks to modify the new national standard car to help the rider save time.
"Change the motor, and install a thick belt. I also have a high-power battery here, which can run 100 kilometers on a single charge." When the reporter called himself a takeaway, the customer service replied.
Despite the modification of the new car, Wang Jun still has a lot of thoughts, "The old car can run to 70Km/h, the new car is too thin, and the extreme is only 50Km/h, and it will be a little bit floating after a long ride." Ju Qiang believes that the electric bicycle The speed of riding a motorcycle poses a big safety hazard.
"The braking system of an electric bicycle is not as good as a motorcycle, and the speed is too fast and it will lose control. In addition, the weight of the modified car will increase, and the driving ability of the person will also be weakened."
Regarding the spreading illegal modification, the reporter reported the situation to a non-motor vehicle registration station. The staff said that when registering, they would only check whether the registration procedures are complete and whether the vehicle configuration is consistent with the qualification certificate.
If the citizens are speeding after refitting by themselves, it falls under the supervision of the public security traffic control department. In the case that the speed measurement equipment is not spread out in a large area, it will be difficult to investigate and deal with it.
Achieving a smooth transition requires concerted efforts from all parties
Compared with home use, travel efficiency is more important for takeaways. If this is the case, can we formulate exclusive standards for electric bicycles for the takeaway industry?
In March of this year, the China Bicycle Association issued the group standard of "Takeaway Special Vehicle Part 1: Takeaway Electric Bicycle" (Draft for Solicitation of Comments), which appropriately relaxed the load and battery life standards of takeaway vehicles, but emphasized that the maximum speed of the vehicle should meet the new requirements. National standard.
In this regard, Liu Jianxin, executive director and special researcher of the Chinese Society of Logistics, analyzed that traffic accidents caused by takeaways for time rushing accounted for 60% of the total number of non-motor vehicle traffic accidents.
The new national standard sets the speed of electric bicycles below 25Km/h, which aims to ensure the safety of riders and also meet the requirements of industry development.
“There can only be one standard on the same road, and that is traffic safety.” Zhao Xiaomin, deputy director of the Postal Express Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, said that there are currently about 7.7 million takeaway riders in China, and the number of electric bicycles has exceeded 300 million. Therefore, the food delivery industry must actively adapt to and comply with the new national standard requirements.
Platform companies should adjust algorithms, optimize scheduling, leave room for flexibility in food delivery, build a scientific, reasonable, and humane assessment mechanism, and make efforts to improve the situation of takeaway riders.
"In the past, in the handling of traffic accidents, most of the individual riders were held accountable. In the future, the focus of governance will need to change to the export platform. For example, the safety demonstration project of multi-party cooperation in the industry will restrict market access to platforms with a high incidence of accidents and poor management. ." Liu Jianxin said.
Behind the speed issue is a management system that needs to be improved urgently.
Liu Jianxin believes that as a rapidly growing emerging industry, the food delivery industry combines three types of business: Internet platform, transportation, and logistics services. There is no clear government authority.
"The takeaway business involves the jurisdiction of multiple departments such as commerce, transportation, industry and information, post, public security traffic management, etc. In the future, we will further clarify the division of responsibilities and administrative jurisdiction to prevent some key issues from becoming a vacuum zone."
(At the request of interviewees, some interviewees have pseudonyms)