Since I have been here in Beijing (7 months maybe now?) the traffic has got worse and worse. To go anywhere in the city during morning and evening rush hours is a real nightmare. The figures are quite frightening too - I remember reading somewhere that 1000 new cars are bought every day here, furthermore, even as far back as 2005 the city had already become the worlds number one motor vehicle exhaust producer- I really am quite puzzled about how the government plans to tackle this growing problem.
Over the last couple of decades the Chinese have been busily building roads here to deal with Beijing’s rapid growth. First there were the first and second ring roads, then came the third ring road, now there is also a fourth and fifth ring road circling the capital - and plenty of cars, buses, lorries and taxis circling around them too. Due to the city’s subway system being very limited (although this is changing with the arrival of the 2008 Olympics) and the city’s bus system being rather crowded and slow, plus the fact that many Beijing residents now have some spare cash lying around thanks to the Country’s rapid economic growth, many people are now buying their own cars to get around the city. I think this also has its roots in Chinese culture - men here love to flaunt their money around and buying a car is a sure-fire way of doing this.
Whilst every day more and more people are able to afford to run a car in the capital, the construction of new roads is on the contrary quite limited. Soon, traffic will be at bursting point; to the extent that going anywhere in your own car will be no quicker than going via taxi or bus - although the journey will be much more comfortable. I can only hope that the roads will get so clogged that the government will be forced to take some proper action - such as improving its bus service, introducing congestion charging fees or toll gates and expanding its subway system to new parts of the city.
Meanwhile, despite some changes to public transport here (reduces in bus and subway charges and two new subway lines) Beijing will continue to be the polluted city it is for some time.
Jono
