A private study commissioned by the Transport Department and released in May might have cast doubts on whether more bicycle commuters could be safely introduced into Hong Kong's urban core, but it was clear on the need to make the city more friendly to recreational cyclists who take to the suburban trails on the weekends.
The study supported extending trails in the New Territories and persuading transport companies to adopt more bicycle-friendly policies. The findings make an immense amount of sense - and underscore the wrong-headedness of the MTR Corporation's decision in February to ban bicycles from its trains.
Yesterday's bicycle procession down Nathan Road reminds us that Hong Kong is very far from achieving the goal of making our roads accommodating to anything but car traffic, and it also reminds us that half a year after the MTR Corp's ill-considered ban was put in place, there is no sign of it being reversed.
The bike ban was announced shortly after a January rush-hour arson attack, in which a man set on fire material that he had carried onto the train in hand baggage. In defence of the change, the MTR Corp said it was only implementing a strict interpretation of its by-laws, which limit the size of luggage carried on its trains but says nothing about bicycles.
Overnight - and through some truly baffling logic - an affordable route to Lantau's scenic trails was closed off to what by all accounts is a growing club of weekend athletes. No proposal put forward by recreational biking groups, from a permit scheme to allowing cyclists in only the last carriage and during off-peak hours, could persuade the MTR Corp to change its mind.
Ironically, the change came less than a year after the Sars outbreak made a weekend getaway to outlying areas so popular and at a time of higher awareness about the environment, the air we breathe and the need to safeguard our health. Cycling in the countryside would seem to be an activity that the government and good corporate citizens could and would support.