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Bicycle taxis banned in Burundi
Bicycle taxis in the capital city Bujumbara have been banned, says the BBC, as they 'could be used by rebels to infiltrate the city'...
Read the full story at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3264703.stm
An earlier story from the BBC gives more background - including some of the politics behind the ban, and an earlier incident when bicycle taxis were seized:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2498633.stm
Posted on 13 November 2003
Your comments ...| From: David Hembrow ([email protected]) on 13 November 2003 |
This will be because "rebels" can only travel by bicycle.
We have a similar thing here in Cambridge. The Science Park has a gate on the cycle path which is locked at 7 in the evening (opened some time in the morning) which stops people travelling entering over night by bicycle (well, it would if the road at both ends wasn't open at all times to all traffic).
Anyway, this is apparently to stop burglars, who also are well known to only travel by bicycle. Who'd use a transit van when you could instead carry your swag on a bike ?
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| From: George W. Bush ([email protected]) on 13 November 2003 |
| Yup - only terrorists travel by bicycle. Well known fact. |
| From: Span Tally ([email protected]) on 14 November 2003 |
| This also explains why London's taxi drivers were attempting to get rickshaws legislated off the road. |
| From: Tom (Tom@compofcyclistsetc) on 14 November 2003 |
| Don't forget that coppers in Westminster won't let you leave bikes locked to railings becaues they might contain bombs within the seatpost... |
| From: Ben Cooper ([email protected]) on 15 November 2003 |
| That's also the excuse for removing bike racks at stations. Very unfair, though - cuddly toys have also been used to hide bombs, so we should arrest every small child with a teddy bear as a potential terrorist just in case... ;-) |
| From: Seamus (etc) on 15 November 2003 |
Isn't this a lot like the railways people locking up the bicycle lockers at Doncaster train station but still allowing motorists to use the car park which backs onto one end of the station and alongside the tracks.
Mind you, you could fit loads of explosives in a bicycle whereas there's hardly any space for explosives in a car (not even room for a map).
Incidentally, the last recorded use of a bicycle-bomb in mainland Britain was a failed action by the IRA in the 1930's. |
| From: J Turvey (at home) on 15 November 2003 |
| They never seemed to have told the security people in Northern Ireland about the danger of bicycles - at the height of the troubles I cycled through Northern Ireland each summer, normally using illegal border crossings to/from the South, on an upright bike with four panniers - I was never stopped at any of the numerous security posts I went through, including, once, the same security post (in the middle of a t-junction) three times in half an hour (I was completly confused about where I was trying to go) - just think how much plastic explosive I could have being carrying! |
| From: Hilldodger (@fsmail.net) on 16 November 2003 |
The London taxi drivers have failed in their bid to get rickshaws banned. Heard it on the Beeb a few days ago.
RtH. Leicester's most handsome Penny Farthing rider. |
| From: Murph ([email protected]) on 16 November 2003 |
I'm fairly certain Peter has run a story about how there is a synergy between pedal and motor powered taxis whereby the former are good for short runs (no more than 3 miles) and creative pricing pushes the punters to the most appropriate vehicle...
As for London, I don't think a bit of regulation would hurt but banning them is just stupid. |
| From: Legs Larry ([email protected]) on 17 November 2003 |
| Deeply subversive things, bicycles. I once met a chap who carried his stash of heroin in the end of his handlebar. We wish to make it clear that we do not condone the use of Class A narcotics. Signed: The Mgt. |
| From: Freddy ([email protected]) on 07 December 2003 |
| The most fun filled thing in London is a Rickshaw ride, so no wonder Blake Cabs hate bikes, want us baned us & would enjoy another 140 'fume-trucks' stuck in traffic. |
| From: sue ([email protected]) on 07 December 2003 |
Unfortunately a bomb left on a bicycle in Afganistan this week is going to do nothing to counter the 'terrorists ride bikes' argument...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3296307.stm
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