Cities say it's the end of the road for 'old man's joy'

A growing number of cities have banned slow, small and unlicensed electric-powered three-wheel or four-wheel vehicles — known as laotoule, "old man's joy" in Chinese — because of safety and management concerns.

Beijing banned them from the start of this year, with the vehicles, commonly used by seniors running daily errands, no longer allowed to travel on roads or be parked in public places.

Other places, including Tianjin, Hefei in Anhui province and Dezhou in Shandong province have also prohibited their use on roads since Jan 1.