Beijing citizens find the "no-car" rules difficult to follow
It seems that Beijing citizens aren't having an easy go of following the car ban. I mean, how could you find these rules complicated? Private vehicles are divided into five groups, and care that have license plates that end with a "1" or a "6" are banned on Mondays, those with "2" or "7" are banned on Tuesdays, and so on. Everyone can drive on weekends. Currently, the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper runs a front-page notice each morning to remind owners which cars are allowed on the roads that day. Now, as if that's not enough, the local transport authority has announced that the rules have been changed. This will only lead to more problems, since people seem to prefer driving over other options. At least one resonable person quoted in the article states that it would be a better idea to improve mass transit in the city to make all vehicles get through the cite more efficiently.
[Source: China Times via Gasgoo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Amtoro 9:45AM (11/07/2008)
Bogotá, in Colombia, started this same program (called peak and plate) about 10 years ago; at the beginning the same fears came across making the city government worry about people selling their cars to buy two old ones and drive every day, but after a year of adaptation, when the citizens discovered how friendly the city had become, how easy it was to drive without the congestion from the past, the scheme became a local pride.
Nowadays, Bogotá has one of the most efficient miltimodal public transportation systems in the world, Transmilenio; people ride bicicles to the bus stations, take the feeder buses to the Rapid Bus system stations, store the bicycles and ride the system. For those who still want to drive their cars, the companies have made their hours flexible, so they can arrive to work before or after the banned hours, and leave also early or late. The ban is in effect from 6:30 am to 9am and from 5pm to 7pm for private vehicles with plates ending in any of 4 digits a day, monday to friday. They rotate the restrictions every month.
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