Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Traffic woes of Beijing

I read that Beijing has a serious traffic congestion issue. There are some roads where the traffic hardly moves. It can take several hours to pass a certain stretch of the road.

Beijing went to the extent of mandating that cars can only be used on alternative days, based on odd or even number plates. How do the rich people in Beijing overcome this restriction? They buy two cars for each driving person in the family with odd and even number plates. The number of cars on the road did not reduce significantly, but the number of cars in the homes increased sharply, adding o the parking woes.But it is boom time for the car manufacturers, who are able to larger market. How wasteful!

The solution is a better system of public transport. The car manufacturers will lobby against it, but if the government is keen to find a solution that is better for the city, they have to push through the necessary measures. A strong government will do it, for the good of the people. I believe that the Beijing government will find and implement this type of solution.