Much has been made of Beijing's decision to keep a lighter version of its Olympics traffic restrictions, not least because whatever the city did to clean the air seemed to have worked in August. But the renewed measures are weaker and the probable effect is unclear.
Alex Pasternack at Treehugger points out that the sustained restrictions, which took effect October 1, will be weaker than during the Games. Only one fifth of cars will be pulled from the road on weekdays, versus half under the Olympics rules.
According to The Beijinger (also via Alex), the city's other restrictions include:
- Restricting the number of car license plates issued for the city every year to 100,000--one fourth of the current rate of new car registration. This may in the long run be the most powerful measure, because it will reduce the extent to which increased wealth leads many people to obtain cars.
- Raising parking prices. If it costs more to park, maybe people will take the...
- Growing public transportation network. Lines five, ten, eight, and the airport express opened in the year leading up to the Olympics. Expansions of existing lines and other new lines are planned in the next two to three years.
But it's hard to tell whether the automobile and transportation efforts were really the core of Beijing's cleaner skies during the Olympics. For one thing, it's useful to remember that before a series of rainstorms, many people didn't feel the skies were particularly clear. Afterward, opinion among those used to standard Beijing air was uniformly laudatory. The rain may have helped clean things up.
It is difficult to assess, too, how important the other measures taken around the Olympics were. Manufacturing was slowed or stopped all over the region. Some of the dirtier power plants were shut. (Some may still be shut, but reports indicate that much of the industry has reopened.)
And significantly, dust from construction, a major fact of life in contemporary Beijing, was halted, because construction was halted. Though the surge of building that led up to the Olympics will probably not be matched in the near future in that city, some construction will restart.
So, to the extent that the sustained restrictions on driving decrease people's emitting behavior, that's great, but only time (and reliable measurements of air quality over time) will give a fair estimate of the effect.
The days of tissue-thin tickets collected by human attendants are over in Beijing's underground. Riders on Monday were greeted by electronic ticketing with automatic gates.
When Beijing's Line 5 debuted in October last year, riders found out what they could expect, as new electronic gates were installed but not yet unfurled. Travelers in Asia will recognize the mechanisms from Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Beijing's new subway ticketing system was previewed with the opening of Line 5 in October 2007. They came into service June 9, 2008.
(Credit: Graham Webster)Besides removing the human factor from ticket sales and collection, a feat accomplished already with debit-based ticketing cards that have been in place for quite a while, the system puts Beijing in league with advanced systems that can use rider data to adjust service.
According to People's Daily:
As the new system requires passengers to check in and out electronically, it records precisely their entry and departing stations. This enables us to accurately record passenger flow on each line and station.
"The subway company can adjust train schedules to ease traffic. This is especially important when the Olympic Games are held in August in Beijing," Zhang said.
I'm looking forward to giving the new system a shot this week.
Shanghai's transit system is already admired as a model in China, with its expanding metro map, the maglev super-express train to the Pudong airport, and high ridership in the bus network. Next comes a proposal to open a subway between Shanghai and neighboring Taicang, a Yangzi River port city in Jiangsu Province.
Construction began on No 11 line, which connects the financial center Pudong and the Formula 1 racing court in the rural district of Jiading, in March last year and will be completed before the 2010 World Expo.
The line will be extended 13.5 km and ultimately terminate in the town of Ludu at Taicang if the extension goes ahead.
If the expansion of a subway line seems uncontroversial, that has not been true for the maglev line and its expansion. Instead of running from downtown Shanghai to the airport, the existing maglev stops at a distant subway stop, where passengers switch to the metro. Although it's not a terribly long ride out to the transfer point, the sense of teleportation that you get when accelerating to 268 mph on your way to the airport is considerably dampened by getting on a regular old subway for the rest of your journey.
A plan to extend the maglev through neighborhoods to reach Hongqiao, Shanghai's older airport, met stiff opposition with unusually high-profile demonstrations early this year. Some demonstrators were concerned about the radiation from the massive system of electromagnets that suspends and propels the train. Others were worried that having an aviation-speed train cruising by would depress property values. After all, if you don't get to ride it, no one really wants a big loud train next to their home.
Shanghaiist posted a lot of material on this, including this video from a demonstration in January:
It so happens I am in Shanghai right now, with plans to visit the urban planning museum as an escape from work and the rain today. Perhaps I will have more to add.
- prev
- 1
- next
