Put a bandage on it
- Source: Global Times
- [08:32 January 05 2011]
- Comments
The cars in the Central Business District in Beijing. Photo:CFP
By Chen Xiaomin
Zhao Jie, director of the City Transportation Research Center with the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD), would rather take the subway if he is hurrying to an urgent meeting, instead of driving his car.
"Ground transportation in Beijing can never guarantee that I will arrive at my destination on time. But traffic jams won't delay the subway," Zhao told the Global Times.
World's worst traffic
Vehicles in Beijing run roughly at an average speed of 23.2 kilometers per hour. The city is tied with Mexico City for the world's worst traffic, according to a study released in July by IBM.
Beijing and Mexico City scored 99 out of 100 in IBM's "commuter pain index," followed by Johannesburg, Moscow and New Delhi. Traffic in Beijing was nearly five times worse than Los Angeles, the worst traffic of all US cities, scoring a 25.
To address the issue of ever-expanding gridlock, Beijing rolled out a series of measures, the toughest of which aims to limit the issuing of licenses for new vehicles this year.
Seeking to cap vehicles on its roads to seven million as of 2015, Beijing said on December 23 it will issue licenses to 240,000 new vehicles through a lottery system in 2011, with about 88 percent allocated to individual buyers.
But auto industry associations, urban transportation experts and third-party analysts said the car-purchasing policy will do little to get traffic to flow better and more should be done to improve the efficiency of public transport.
Quota no solution
Lang Xuehong, deputy general manager of the automotive department with Sinotrust, said the quota won't alleviate Beijing's congestion.
"Despite the quota, vehicles numbers will still increase. A car owner can still sell his or her vehicle to buy a second car, which will not be subject to the quota," Lang told the Global Times.
More than 100,000 vehicles are old enough to be scrapped, according to Lang, who estimated that at least 400,000 vehicles will actually be sold next year instead of 240,000.
Like the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Lang also expressed concern that many other cities will follow suit.
Lang said the measure will have a negative impact on the used car market, but will boost the car-rental business.
Zhao of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design said administrative measures like setting quotas should be targeted at vehicles purchased by government bodies, while a more effective way to curb private car purchasing would be to raise costs.
People will find ways around it, Zhao said, including using relatives names to buy vehicles, because the current public transportation system cannot meet people's basic commuting needs.
