Project update by Valerie Gamao, Joyce Hujing, J.K., Yipei Shen, Elaine Zhou

Our recent focus has been understanding the ecosystem of the various different bicycle livelihoods — from providing services like recycling or parcel delivery, to providing goods and products like food or phone cases, and from legal status to illegal status.

First, we learned that a bicycle livelihood used to be, and has the potential to be very lucrative. The parcel delivery guy moved to Beijing specifically because of his job, and the person who collects recycled good reminisced the “good old days”, when one can make almost 10,000 RMB/month (a salary higher than that of a recent Tsinghua grad). It’s a service that the people enjoy and still enjoy using, considering that the recycling man oftentimes receives calls from a set of clients that he has.

Second, we learned that even though the pay is above average and working conditions relatively pleasant and flexible, some of our interviewees still did not tell their families about their jobs due to a sense of embarrassment. However, other individuals were more than happy to share with us their stories.

Tomorrow, we will wrap up our interviews on people with bicycle livelihoods, focusing on stationery food stands. We would also like to add some viewpoints of the passerby, customers, and clients. Why would they buy goods or services from a mobile bike instead of an approved store on the street? Moving forward, we hope to understand more about these peoples’ daily routes and where/when the busy spots are for these people.

With our interviews, we asked participants to share with us a typical day – where they go, and when they move. We’ve attached the journey map and timeline of a pizza delivery guy.

1. （电动）自行车不仅是一种交通工具，也是一种映射劳动人民在北京这个城市生活的镜子。

必胜客送外卖的外卖员，一天同时兼职了不同地点的四份工作，他下午3点到晚上8点都在为必胜客送外卖，电动自行车在他这部分工作中发挥着很大的作用。

收垃圾的大叔，他每天用一辆破旧的三轮车，在五道口附近收集废弃的可回收利用的纸箱子，最近像他那种三轮车是禁止上马路的，所以他会很小心，怕被警察发现，要被拘留，甚至被送回老家。

快递分散点的快递员，平时，这里的快递员都会用组装的电动三轮车出去送快递，但最近，由于检查严格，组装的三轮电动车是禁止上路的，被发现的话，要把车子没收（每辆车大约4000RMB），他和他的同事们不得不自己掏腰包换成公司统一定制的电动车。

2. 在城市中，推行的有关电动自行车政策或者措施一定要在充分调查，体恤民情的基础上再做决定，很多以此（电动自行车/电动三轮车）谋生的使用者会因政策而受到影响或者损失。

能够深入了解到以电动自行车/电动三轮车谋生那些人们的真实地生活状态与内心的想法。

3. 我们有一些新的问题。我们如何通过学生自己的力量使政府关于电动自行车/电动三轮车的政策更加人性化，减少那些以此谋生的人们的损失。

针对调研中我们发现的问题（政府关于自行车/电动三轮车政策使以此谋生的人们受到经济损失），可以针对性的访问那些“受害者”，他们希望哪种方式在 保证促进城市的统一管理与发展的前提下，又能让自己的损失降低到最少。我们可以将他们提出的方案进行汇总与思考，想出一个更人性化，更合理的方案。