Police remind expat e-bikers that the streets are no circus
Artistes and performers from the Shanghai Wild Animal Park circus were given a briefing on e-bike rules by Pudong New Area police on Wednesday.
An officer reminded them that traffic offenses count in assessing work visa applications. Pudong traffic police often catch foreign circus workers riding their e-bikes in the wrong lane or running red lights.
Wang Jianfeng, head of the squad that covers the area that includes the zoo, said the foreigners are mostly from countries like Russia, Belarus and Tajikistan, and their English and Chinese skills are limited, which makes it difficult for the police to communicate with them in the streets.
During the session, the foreigners were keen to know how to register an e-bike as an expat. The procedure is far from simple. They need to bring their passport, purchase receipt, quality certificate and the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) certificate of the e-bike. They also need to bring the e-bike itself to get a plate.
Any e-bike that does not meet the national standards which came into force on April 15 will not be registered.
Chen Xi with the legislation squad of Pudong PSB, said, “The purpose of registering e-bikes is to ensure that they are all up to the safety standards.”
Chen said the police could organize mass registrations at workplaces with a relatively large number of expat e-bike users if required.
The circus has agreed to provide training on the traffic rules for its foreign workers and to take traffic offenses into account when assessing their performance and future contracts.