Don’t pass the bus

By Richard Trombly

Don’t pass the bus? They are slow and stop repeatedly. Of course, any cyclist wants to leave them in their dust, right?

“Don’t pass the bus.” is one of my favorite, if obscure, Chinese sayings. It is more than just safety advice.

I am mostly an endurance rider but when I was younger, I would push the speed on rides and challenge my best time on every leg of my daily circuit. I was riding for the rush of speed and the thrill of pushing myself and the machine to its limits through the stunning beauty of the New England country roads near where I lived in Western Massachusetts.

When I moved to Shanghai in 2003, I was thrust into a whole new environment. China has a history as the bicycle kingdom. It also has shockingly dangerous roads with among the highest traffic accident rates in the world. Shanghai is one of the world’s largest and most hectic cities but in much of the city, there are separate and relatively safe bike lanes.

I would pass the cars in traffic, pass all the other cyclists, pass the ubiquitous EV scooters and even pass some of the motorcycles that would sneak into the bike lanes to avoid traffic on the road. Urban riding like that is thrilling and dodging moving obstacles can be exhilarating but it is not without its dangers. There are many bike accidents as pedestrians and slow moving city bikes clog the cycle lanes.

I once went riding with a group of locals on a century (1OOkm) tour out of the city around the relative countryside. We kept up a good pace and had a great day of exploration and enjoyed a Chinese tradition of eating great food at a local farm house. One of the fastest members of our ride asked to go riding in Shanghai just for daily exercise. I of course agreed.

When we met up, I was riding at top speed and expected he would do the same. He was lagging far behind me. I wondered if he was having mechanical problems because he had been leading the group on the tour. When I slowed for him to catch up, he simply said, “Richard, don’t pass the bus.” I had not noticed passing a bus, but we rode slower and still had a nice ride at his pace.

Afterwards I asked him what he meant by, “don’t pass the bus.” He explained that it means slow down and do not hurry and it was more than about traffic. In China, the bus drivers were often pushed so sternly by their managers to keep their schedules that they often drove recklessly and it could end in tragedy. In the city, there are so many other people and traffic is hectic, so slow down and watch out for others and relax.

Since that time, I have found that to be a phrase that comes back to me often. As I pass through Osaka center on my commutes, I take it at a slower pace whenever I find myself about to make a daring move on the bike. Whenever I feel the pressure to hurry and get stressed about it, on or off the bike, I try to think about this philosophy of reducing stress off the bike as well.

It is a guiding philosophy at Osaka Design Works because tricycles definitely are not slow but they are not as speedy as racing bikes. They also are lower and cars can easily miss seeing them, so trike riders need to take extra effort to be visible, ride courteously and to assure their safety.

Don’t pass the bus. Don’t just arrive alive, slow down and take it easy on the journey.