China is the world's largest manufacturer of electric bikes. Yet, it keeps banning them. Shenzhen is China's fourth city in economic output, and looks the part. Cars and buses pass by its broad roads in a never-ending line, its traffic jams are legendary. E bikes and three-wheelers only add to the pain of driving.

Now, Shenzhen has banned these two vehicles, unless the e bike conforms to national standards set in 1999. At that time, e bikes were allowed to use cycle lanes if they conformed to a standard weight of 40 kilogrammes and a speed limit of 20 km-per-hour. Today, they weigh more and can run at 60 km-an-hour. So, they are out of cycle lanes, and right in the middle of heavy traffic.

A six-month ban was tried out in 2011, but wasn't renewed. Even now, the backlash against the ban has forced the authorities to give a two-week extension to those who want to get their e bikes licensed.

E bikes often ram into cars and pedestrians, as their brakes are not strong enough for the speeds they run at. They have been banned in smaller cities. But couriers catering to online shopping sites, a business in which China has almost overtaken the United States of America, are dependent on e bikes and three wheelers. The ban has already brought their deliveries down by 50 per cent, and an exodus of workers has started. Both cycles and tempos are impractical, as deliveries have to be speedy and door to door.

The business here is so cutting edge that if you order something online in the morning, you are assured of same-day delivery, sometimes for just three yuan (Rs 30). Special three-hour delivery costs 40 yuan. Couriers here laugh at the slow pace of delivery in the US. Since the drive against unlicensed e bikes and three wheelers began, 50 couriers have been detained and 800 three-wheelers confiscated. The ban has made smaller courier companies consider winding up. But the worst hit are the delivery men, most of whom are migrants.

Bleak future

As is common in other service jobs in China, couriers get paid a basic salary and the rest is commissions. This has led to success stories such as Zhao Junyou's, from Hebei near Beijing. Zhao earns 5,000 yuan as salary and the same amount in commissions on deliveries, plus housing and medical allowance, since he works for a big Beijing company. That's more than what his parents back in the village earn in a year from their farm. More important for him is that he's earning double the average salary of a graduate. Zhao drives an assembled three-wheeler, a cross between an auto and a bike. In his bag mounted at the back, he can carry as many as 50 laptops. He makes 100 deliveries a day, and is determined to save enough to send his nine-year-old son, now studying in the village, to university.

Zhang Kangjun's could have been a similar success story had it not been for Shenzhen's ban. The 33 year old is wondering whether he should find another job, having been forced to give up his e bike for a pedal-powered one. "I'm tired and scared," he told a reporter. "I have to work an extra five hours every day to deliver my regular load.'' Typically, he has to pay a fine from his own pocket for every delayed delivery. Even with his e bike, he was paying between 500 and 1,000 yuan every month at 50 yuan for every day of delay.

Ironically, just last month, the former minister for urban development endorsed e bikes, pointing out that while a car occupies 10 square metres, a bike occupies only 1.4. Yet, the government subsidizes the production of electric cars, whereas what future cities need is the compact e bike, he said.