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Christopher DeWolf

Sai Kung's bicycle graveyard is back and bigger than ever. Last week, dozens of bikes were seen piled atop one another on a stretch of government land near the junction of Hiram's Highway and Clear Water Bay Road.
It's a symptom of a wider problem - an acute shortage of bicycle parking spaces. 
According to the last Travel Characteristics Survey, conducted by the Transport Department in 2002, 15.2 per cent of people  had a bicycle available for use. The Hong Kong Cycling Alliance estimates there are more than a million bikes in the city. 
But the government provides only 41,440 public bicycle parking spots. 
As a result, many cyclists leave their bicycles attached to roadside fences - where they risk being seized by the government. After the bikes are confiscated, there is no way for their owners to reclaim them.
The Sai Kung dump is used by the government to store bicycles confiscated from public areas. They are eventually auctioned in bulk to scrap metal dealers. Last year, after the Sunday Morning Post ran a story about the practice, the Sai Kung dump was cleared. But now it has returned, with even more bikes than before, and cyclists are outraged. 
'This is first and foremost a failure of the government to provide better cycling facilities,' said Cycling Alliance member Martin Turner. 'We have a crying need for more bicycle parking but the response of the government is that bikes are a litter problem to be cleared away.'
Last July, web developer Leung Wang-hei was cycling to Tai Wai MTR station with his wife, Olivia Yong. The couple normally leave their bikes in the parking area outside the MTR station before taking the train to work. 
'But usually it is overcrowded,' said Leung, so he and Yong locked their bikes to a roadside fence, next to one of several blue signs indicating that it is a bicycle parking area.
When they returned from work later that day, it was raining, so they left their bikes at the station overnight. The next day, they were gone.
'The middle of the parking lot was empty, even though the ends were still crowded with bicycles,' said Leung. 'Our first thought was theft, but when we looked around we found a notice from the government in one of the other bike baskets. It was just a small piece of paper that said you have to move  your bicycle or they will  clean up the area.'
Leung assumed he could reclaim his bike, so he called the Lands Department, which had issued the clearance notice. He was referred to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which conducted the clearance, but when he spoke to an officer from that department he was told the parking lot was managed by the Transport Department. 
Four months later, Leung still has not received an answer about what happened to his bike and whether he can reclaim it. 
He has since launched a Facebook group - 'Who Stole My Bike?' - to publicise the seizure practices.
'If what I did is illegal, I expect to pay a fine and get back my property,' he said. 'Why is it so different from a car, which only gets a ticket?'
A spokeswoman for the Lands Department confirmed that the Hiram's Highway site is used to store confiscated bicycles, but would not answer questions about where the bikes came from or what will happen to them. 
In the past, the government has justified the seizures by saying that appropriate warning is given before clearances and that the majority of seized bicycles have been abandoned by their owners. 
'This is a lie,' said Turner. 'It is simply not true. We estimate that about a quarter [of bikes] might not have attendant owners. The majority would be reclaimed. You need only look at the chain and shininess of the saddles to see how often a bike is used. It's grossly unfair. There needs to be a mechanism for their owners to be reunited with them.'
Getting to the root of the problem would mean providing more bicycle parking spots, he said. 
The Transport Department has pledged to add  more than 1,000  around the New Territories. A spokesman for the department said: 'In Sai Kung, 150 new parking spots will be installed at nine locations along a new cycle track that will be built along Sai Sha Road to Ma On Shan.' However, Turner says it is not nearly enough to meet demand.
The Planning Department recommends that one bicycle parking spot be provided for every 15 flats smaller than 753 square feet in residential developments near train stations in the New Territories. It also recommends the provision of 30 parking spaces for every 10,000 residents living within two kilometres of a railway station. In practice, however, these recommendations are not met.
6,623
How many bikes were confiscated in the first half of this year.
- 6,378 were auctioned for HK$152,450, or about HK$24 each



Sai Kung bicycle dump is back as seizures continue