Yu Chun has driven public buses in her hometown for more than two decades.
The seasoned driver has come to Beijing every spring since 2013 as a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy and devoted her energy to steering her fellow lawmakers' attention toward urban traffic management.[Special coverage]
But this year, the 50-year-old Yu crossed off buses from her priority list to focus on an environmentally-friendly alternative: bikes.
The craze for two-wheels has returned to China, once known as "the Bicycle Kingdom," since bike-sharing tech firms made inroads into the market over the last three years.
To ride such a bike only requires downloading an app and paying a deposit via a mobile wallet. GPS-imbedded bikes can be picked up, scanned with a QR code and dropped off anywhere on the street after the ride.
Bike-sharing has taken the country by storm, spreading from Beijing and Shanghai to scores of smaller cities. More than 3 million such bikes are now on the streets, according to industry estimates.
But random and hazardous parking of the bikes has caused concern.
Yu said she was supportive of using bikes as a low-carbon solution to the traffic gridlock so common in large Chinese cities.
In her city Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, the government began promoting public bikes as early as 2008.
"It's good to see people commute in environmentally-friendly ways, but many bike users just leave their bikes at random, blocking traffic and sometimes posing safety threats," she said. "This may derail the sector from sustainable growth."
As a bus driver, Yu sees parking annoyances more often than others. She has even spotted people "having spats" over shared bike parking.
"Shared bikes have done good for society, but they also need to be properly regulated," she said.
As an NPC deputy, Yu decided to bring the issue to the national legislature.
The NPC is the supreme body of state power. Its deputies are part-time and come from varied backgrounds. They are considered a key channel to have community voices heard, enabling common voices to influence state governance.
At the annual session, NPC deputies can submit motions or suggestions which can lead to legislation or policy adjustments.
Last year's session received around 460 motions and over 8,600 suggestions.
"Shared bikes have played a positive role in easing traffic jams, but problems with random parking and chaotic money-charging are on the rise," Yu wrote in her suggestion to the legislature.
"It is necessary to establish rules regulating the sector, including in manufacturing, operation, maintenance and upgrading," it said.
In the past four years, Yu had raised several suggestions on the public transport sector, with all receiving replies from government departments. Some even led to policy changes.
Last year, she and several other NPC deputies were invited to the Ministry of Transport to be briefed on the follow-ups to her suggestion on public transport legislation, in particular to boost the use of public buses.
This is the last year Yu will sit on the 12th NPC, and she has decided that buses should no longer be her focus. Instead, she believes that biking is an equally good way of commuting that deserves promoting in China.
Even Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng has more than once supported the bike sharing in public.
"As an innovation, it should be encouraged," Li told reporters on the sidelines of the parliamentary session that began on Sunday.
"Each locality should set their own rules, strengthen management," he added, urging bike sharing firms to improve their service and bike users behave civil as well.
A testimony to the boom, as the NPC convenes, orange, yellow, and white bikes can be seen all over Beijing's urban districts. Industry estimates indicate the demand for bikes will rise to around 20 million, as the bike-sharing boom continues.
"I'm sure my suggestion will resonate among lawmakers, and result in the sector being better regulated and thrive," she said.
